While Boston’s Mr. Lif used Emergency Rations to get some shit off his chest about the U.S. government, I Phantom is more of a self-examination of how our hero of the downtrodden fits into the system. Billed as a concept album, (more Book Of Human Language than Prince Among Thieves), this loose-knit narrative begins in the micro-verse of Mr. Lif’s dreams, and ends in the macro-verse of a nuclear holocaust.

Almost picking up where the EP left off, a disgruntled Lif adopts a “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” attitude, running with the local hoods with dreams of being a stick-up kid, only to meet his demise a bit too early on “Glimpse Of The Struggle”. Amazingly, in death, hip-hop itself realizes what a valuable asset it has lost and resurrects him on “Return Of The B-Boy” a wonderful El-P concoction that celebrates our music wonderfully, and symbolically represents a rebirth of this art form through the underground hip-hop movement. But it was all a dream…

Thrust back into reality, Mr. Lif’s metaphoric death/rebirth begins to take toll on his character, as he begins to resent his funky bald-ass boss on “Live From The Plantation”, as he takes matters into his own hands “Office Space” style, with Edan  animating this cartoon caper in his trademark 80′s throwback beats. His character celebrates his newfound freedom on “New Mans Theme”, only to be put in his place by Insight on “Status”, who humorously deflates any notions that Mr. Lif may have ever had of being a flossy rap bastard, over a $20 beat (one that actually ain’t half bad).

Back to the grind, in the three-part El-P extravaganza that begins on “Success”, where Lif’s character gets a reality check that he can’t feed his family without a job, yet when he goes back to work, Aesop Rock plays the neglected child with a brilliant hook “Daddy had a name-tag that said busy-working / mommy had a milk-carton that said missing person / and I had baseball glove with nobody to learn with / and that’s oil and water trying to mix on the same surface”. Things turn even worse when families start dividing and new-ones begin forming, as Lif breaks the door down on taking Aesop’s place as the abandoned youth on “The Now” (an uncharacteristically funky El-Producto track): “Daddy’s got a new wife now, a new man child, a new swagger with a new style!”

How does all this lead to a nuclear war? Well, it gets a little less cohesive here, but Lif’s paranoia links the events up to “Earthcrusher”, which is even better animated on “Post Mortem “, as El-P rings the alarm of an international warhead exchange, while he, Lif, Jean Grae, and Akrobatik share their final thoughts as they examine their last moments on earth. A brilliantly depressing track, over one of his best beats yet (think Cold Vein).

Mr. Lif’s I Phantom is a stream-of-consciousness film that examines it’s own paranoia with a nervous smile never leaving it’s face. He speaks of these events not in a grim tone, but almost a celebratory one, parodying what’s fucked up about America, not in a political sense, but more as how we are cogs stuck in the machine. While it sounds like a lot of work to take in, thankfully the album comes with “The I Phantom Key”, in the liner notes, which breaks it all down. While this kind of thing isn’t typically successful (because listening to hip-hop should never be more work than the music itself is worth), for once it works, for if anything, the top-notch production alone will pull you back for multiple listens. Best of all, each episode can be enjoyed individually, as the entire album isn’t required listening to understand each song. Check it off as another winner from the Def Jux stable – it’s quite possible that in time we may even praise this album as a classic.