While the indy hip-hop network is mainly built upon new artists’ affiliations with pre-established artists or labels, Diverse has struggled to insert himself within the scene, not only because he remains outside of New York or Los Angeles, but also because he hasn’t had the luxury of guest appearing on albums from established indy imprints such as Rawkus, Quannum, or Def Jux. However, despite the fact that Diverse has merely the backing of hometown upstart imprint Chocolate Industries, he has managed to collaborate with such artists as Mos Def, Lyrics Born, and RJD2, which has slowly helped created a buzz for the rising Chicago emcee. With his debut album, this virtually unknown emcee packs an impressive guest list, which helps him forge one of the most consistent debuts this year. 

     Diverse’s flow is complex, using heavy vocabulary and a somewhat abstract delivery, which may explain why he has been an overlooked emcee in the sea of indy rappers. However with a production team as good as he’s got on One A.M., his ambitions to be mainstream-underground will be fulfilled. He has an incredible ear for good production, and amongst the albums 12 tracks, there isn’t a bad beat on here. Boasting five beats from the consistent as ever RJD2, it’s easy to see why this statement was true, especially since the rest of the production is handled by names like Prefuse 73 and Madlib. Diverse adapts to his environment well each time, adjusting his style to match the beats appropriately. He grabs our attention immediately with the jump-off point, “Certified”, as RJ’s raw, bluesy guitar licks help propel Diverse’s rhymes. This concept is later pushed to the limit on “Explosive”, which plays like a rap drag-race, as Lyrics Born absolutely murders RJ’s beat with breathless delivery, volleying back and forth with Diverse, for perhaps the indy single of the year. 

    But Diverse’s LP doesn’t start and finish at freestyle braggadocio and verbal gymnastics, as he also has some incredibly soulful joints and frosty tales of windy city struggle to balance it out. The city’s respiration (be it Chicago, New York, or Columbus) is captured wonderfully on “Under The Hammer”, through Diverse and Jean Grae’s shared vocals that define the downtown daily grind, via a heavy beat by RJ. Again on “Big Game”, RJ adds a sharp Wu-Tang Clan/Delfonics-esque snare to his slow breezy beat for label mates Vast Aire and Diverse to share. Even more feeling is packed into “Ain’t Right”, where Diverse tells unfortunate tales of those that came before him, over an almost uncharacteristically down-to-earth beat from moonlighting astronaut, Madlib. As the album winds down, Prefuse 73 helps prepare Diverse for his departure with the xylophone heavy “Leaving”, with an almost Reflection Eternal-esque chemistry between emcee and producer. Diverse closes out with “In Accordance”, which he finds himself looking to share his life with another, to the lonely sounds of late night Chicago jazz. 

    Diverse’s One A.M. is proof puddin’ positive that there is plenty of undiscovered talent out there, not only outside of New York and LA, but also outside of your favorite crew. Sad to say that it takes a line-up of dope producers and guest emcees to help get a new emcee like Diverse noticed, but in essence, this helped make his debut one of the strongest this year.