Radioinactive is a guy, not a group. He hails from Los Angeles, and dabbles in a genre he calls 'avant hip-hop.' 'Avant,' in this context (as with most other indie usages of the word) is merely a euphemism. One may use the word as a synonym for 'cutting edge,' as its technical definition is 'culturally or stylistically advanced.' But musically, 'avant' has come to imply brazen abnormality over the years. Dumb the music down and it just becomes plain weird. So, in essence, Radioinactive makes 'weird hip-hop.'

Music video for 'Pyramidi' by Radioinactive. Directed by Anisa Qureshi. From the album Pyramidi on Mush Records. Music video for 'Pyramidi' by Radioinactive. Directed by Anisa Qureshi. From the album Pyramidi on Mush Records.

Or maybe one would do better just to call it weird, and forget the hip-hop part. But that wouldn't exactly be fair; if there's one thing I associate with hip-hop, it's the beats, and Radioinactive definitely has those. His beats fit the 'avant' label, avoiding pop, funk or fusion samples-- hard break beats, horn sections and thumping, subterranean basslines make but a few appearances on Pyramidi. Instead, Radio culls samples from the nocturnal subcultures of the world; the title track placed me in a Moroccan brothel (supposing brothels exist in Morocco), 'Una Cosa' in a smoky Havana nightclub, 'Childish' on the weekend streets of Kingston. The dominant motif is darkness-- not anger or aggression, but a relaxed, cool musical presence. And as a contrast to most other hip-hop artists, I can't imagine hearing Radioinactive coming out of a Lincoln Navigator with deep dish rims, tinted windows and a dope 'system.'

Makalah psikologi kepribadian. This stuff seems a little too exotic for the pimps and players. The rhymes are another matter. Radio has an interesting free-flowing, halfway-to-helium delivery that sometimes matches his beats, but at others sounds superfluous and distracts from the groove. His rambling writing style just lacks precision.

It borders on free association, or some sort of partially calculated freestyle, and the loose approach, mixed with the tempo, results in enough words to fill a 20-page thesis. With so many lyrics, whatever message Radio wants to get across is severely diluted. There's an adage that says the best bassists 'know how to play the rests.' MCs aren't much different. Two of the best examples for any MC to learn from are Rakim and Kool G Rap.

Like Radioinactive, each preferred to rap at quick tempos, but they excelled by knowing when to shut up and let the breaks take the foreground, or just resting on a beat to punctuate a lyric ('I can take a phrase that's rarely heard/ [pause]/ Flip it/ [pause]/ Now it's a daily word,' from Rakim's 'Follow the Leader'). Radio doesn't play with dynamics enough, even when he's got a good beat to work with, like on the title track. Another example is the Arabian-flavored 'Before the Thought,' where Radio gets stuck in a noticeable vocal cadence, which is odd, considering his rhymes and meter are rarely predictable.