It’s no secret to friends and family that I’m a bit of an Indianaphobe for reasons too numerous to list, but Southern Indiana has certainly made strides to present a burgeoning creative scene over the last couple years. Beyond the excellent releases from the Grimey Rhyme Regime crew, MC SNO. recently dropped Struggle’s Never Over, a mixtape/album that shows a harder edge, but similar quality. The production is decidedly more Southern, heavy on synths and hi-hats, but still samples cleverly (the videogame-sounding “Heavyweight Hustla,” ballad “Loving U”). Nearly half the album has featured vocalists, but none bring down the quality — rare for a crew to be so equal, talent-wise. You may not learn a whole lot from the guests, though SNO. does a good job keeping his own content balanced (call it 65/35) between street and knowledge. This is the result of a steady diet of early ’90s hardcore rap, where dirt may have been done but repercussions for those actions were acknowledged and discussed with equal time.
This article appears in September 20, 2011.