The indie hip-hop 12″ movement of the early 2000′s was responsible not only for the creation of this site, but also a slew of new blood coming up from the underground. We saw our share of one-hit wonders, while other cats released albums, but threw the towel in once retail was a wrap. All in all, there have been few artists that survived the physical goods crash, and many others that persist to make music despite the fact that nobody wants to hear it. Apathy transcended the movement by signing with Atlantic, but after the deal went sour, things weren’t looking good. While many would hang their mics up after going through something like this, Ap has stayed the course, now releasing his third LP with Honkey Kong.

Like Eastern Philosophy and Wanna Snuggle? before it, Apathy hasn’t broken the mold of delivering a raw, classically styled east coast hip-hop album; in fact, this time he’s got a handful of the genre’s chief architects to produce it. While we’ve been waving the Demigodz flag over here for years, the addition of names like DJ Premier, Da Beatminerz, Statik Selektah, Muggs, and others may finally be the perceived “authenticity” the mainstream rap press needs to embrace it.

Ap is no slouch on the mic, as he has proven over the years, and to still be delivering such a large ratio of quotables this deep in his career, really begins to define him as one of the best emcees in the game. On “Stop Whatcha Doin’”, he and Celph go line-for-line over a DJ Premier big beat, while tracks like “Honkey Kong” (feat. Vinnie Paz) and “Holy Ghost” (feat. Slaine) kick the album off with a barrage of lyrical ammo, with help from a few like minded albino gorillas.

The deeper we get into the album, the more conceptual it gets, as on “The Villain”, where Ap and Ill Bill deliver a verse built on all-too-real conspiracy theories, or “Check To Check” – which is arguably the album’s best track – as Ap paints of a portrait of his financial picture over a bittersweet beat from Evidence. “The Recipe” finds him and Xzibit play the around with abbreviations, while on the Statik Selektah produced “It’s Only Hip-Hop” he laments for his fans to give him five feet. The Beatminerz produced “Peace Connecticut” amazingly throws it right back to the Enta Da Stage sound, as Ap pays homage to his city, while he ends things on a grim note with “1:52 A.M.”.

Remarkably consistent, Honkey Kong may just be Ap’s best album to date; a rarity in this industry, as many artists seem to deteriorate over time. If this album has faults, the over-abundance of guests is one – while this does give it some variety, it’s also unclear if he purposely selected the game’s nastiest white boys to join him on an LP called Honkey Kong, or if that’s just how he rolls. The other minor complaint could be the album’s length, but with such consistency, he hardly wears out his welcome on the album’s original 16 tracks and 7 bonus joints. With Apathy finally getting the attention he deserves, perhaps it’s only a matter of time before he experiences a second childhood in the major label rap game; King Kong ain’t got shit on him.