Each of The Demigodz core members had impressed us with a number of classic indy 12″ singles over the last few years, but the name remains unknown. They appeared on the types of songs that the average head might recognize from their local college radio show, but somehow couldn’t put a name to the voice (or name to the song, for that matter). But the song that put most of the crew on the “map” was “The Smackdown”, which featured the line-up of Apathy, Celph Titled, Rise, and guest C-Rayz Walz, each ripping shit over Celph’s flip of the GZA/Genius’s “Liquid Swords” sample. Meanwhile, other Demigodz made noise on their own, as Louis Logic blew the spot with his ode-to-alchohol “Factotum”, and Esoteric delivered an indy favorite with 7L, on last year’s The Soul Purpose full-length. But most of ya’ll are still like “Demi-who?”.

Whether that last paragraph is Greek to you or you are a long-time fan, The Demigodz The Godz Must Be Crazy will please just about any fan of hardcore hip-hop music (unless statements like “I walk on water too nigga / fuck Jesus!” offend you.) For once, we have a crew structured like the Wu-Tang Clan, where every emcee is competing with each other to come the dopest, rather than simply relying on the strength of their friends to get some shine. Led by perhaps the most eligible unsigned white hype of the moment, Apathy, and backed by the production and ridiculous punch rhymes of Celph Titled, the crew rolls ten deep, each trying to outdo each other like Bugs and Daffy.

Despite the inner competition, they roll together like a tight fraternity of drunk assholes, with laugh out loud battle rhymes that would make The Beatnuts pop the trunk. Interestingly enough, they each have their own distinct style, animating themselves like rhyming comic book characters. Apathy leads the pack as the crew’s strongest emcee, with an aggressive acrobatic style that dips itself into small complexities, but only enough to win the appreciation of the backpack crowd, while still coming with enough attitude to win over the everyday half-a-rap-fan. His partner Celph Titled takes second banana, spitting hilarious braggadocio over his own bangin’ beats (no exaggeration). Meanwhile, Louis Logic comes out of nowhere with his own drunken yet cool swagger, rhyming with the sense of humor, vocabulary, and style of a pre-depression Eminem.

While the conceptual levels are low, this album is still a lot of fun, (which, by the way, is not to say that these cats aren’t capable of making songs, as each of their solo projects have proven.) This album is simply a 36 Chambers like introduction to the crew, running down the line, and they have a lot of fun with it. Tracks like “The Demigodz”, “Science Of The Bumrush Vol. 2″, “Captivate/Deactivate” and “Don’t You Even Go There” are pretty simple in execution, with The Demigodz ripping through Celph’s wonderful production. But best of all, it’s fucking def. In a nutshell, it’s raw, straightforward, hip-hop music, where the beats are dope enough to match the lyrics, and the lyrics are dope enough to match the beats. And isn’t that what we’ve all been waiting for in the age of watered down thugs and smart-rap? Don’t sleep.