Turn on today’s radio and you’ll find it over-crowed with unsophisticated and mindless swag seekers and trash talkers. Rarely do you find soulful jazz or intellectual rhymes to educate one’s brain, but luckily for us producer, Marc Mac(4hero) has returned with the Visioneers sophomore album, Hipology off the BBE label. The follow up to the well received Dirty Old Hip-Hop(2006), we are given lessons on how homage can be paid to two great American-born cultures: Hip-Hop and Jazz. The album offers a handful of funky flavors for everyone to vibe to. For the B-boy/girl dancers looking to hit the floors there’s the revamped upbeat classic “Apache” and also, “Jungle Green Outlines”. For the deep in thought rap poets needing new lyrical fuel Mac collabs with Emcee John Robinson aka Lil’ Sci from the Lyricist Lounge camp with “Shine,” where Robinson acknowledges their combined efforts, “How Suitable the visionary meets the Visioneers.” For the Jazz Lovers Mac covers Ahmad Jamal’s, “Swahililand”, probably better known by Hip-Hop fans as the original sample for De La Soul’s “Stakes is High”. One of my personal favorites on the album is an ethereal downtempo groove called “Whatever Happened to Peace”. Although title reminded me of the Eric B. and Rakim line at the end of “Paid in Full”, this lush organic fuse of boom bap drumming and synthy keys put one in a more meditative and psychadellic mood. There is a definate range of versatility in the overall album and Mac seems to not only pick up where he left off, but dive deeper into the subjects he introduced us to 6 years ago. His honest dedication to Hip-Hop is clear as he stated on Hipology.org, “While recording a new Visioneers record in 2011-2012 I started thinking about how much Hip Hop has played an under current role through my life.”-Ryan Baysa

Ryan Baysa is a Los Angeles DJ/Designer/Writer for the Beat Swap Meet and the Straight Ahead