*** Mountain Brothers

SELF: VOLUME 1

(Pimpstrut)

De-monizing the major-label rap scene has become an obsession of underground MCs, but the Philadelphia-based Asian rap trio Mountain Brothers have a better excuse than most since they danced with and were dropped by Ruffhouse/Colombia in 1997. The artistic result of that dissolution is their self-produced debut, a sharp-focused window into the life of an unsigned, independent-minded hip-hop crew. "Day Job" details a world where humiliating jobs at fast-food joints and frustrating business dealings ("Sample clearances/In-store appearances/Production of beats and discussion of split-sheet percentages") threaten to overwhelm the thrill of rockin' the mike. But far from being a bitter meditation, Self bristles with a goofy-ass, Prince Paul-esque sense of humor that thumbs its nose at major-label playas while upstaging them with originality and straight-up funk.

-- Michael Endelman