The Mighty Underdogs

The big question about underground hip-hop supergroup the Mighty Underdogs is this: Does the whole equal the sum of its parts? After all, when you add together MCs Gift of Gab (Blackalicious) and Lateef the Truthspeaker (Latryx) with producer Headnotic (Crown City Rockers), you'd expect the result to be something mighty fresh. And for the most part, the Underdogs deliver. Lateef and Gab's amiable yet boisterous rhymes play off each other well. At times, however, they tend to push the metaphors just a bit too far. Headnotic is the glue that holds together the loquacious, larger-than-life Lateef and the thoughtful, quick and clever Gab. The group's debut album, Droppin' Science Fiction, drew such guest artists as DJ Shadow and MF DOOM, so it's clear the Underdogs have something workable going. Let's just hope that time will smooth the rough edges and turn the whole into something greater than the sum of its parts.