[ hip-hop ]
Where are all the socially conscious, politically aware, multiracial prog-rocking rap acts with a sense of humor in 2012? Well, for the most part there’s kinda-sorta only been one: Denver’s Flobots. Started by a bunch of elementary-school pals in love with Common (yay) and Rage Against the Machine (ugh), the Colorado live-band hip-hop outfit self-released EPs and dropped full albums on the majors until winding up somewhere in between in 2012 with its newest album dropped on the Shanachie label. The recently released The Circle in the Square finds the Flobots MCs yakking heavy-handedly about the ever-present ordeal in the Middle East, even-handedly about the Occupy movement and with wry warmth and sensitivity when it comes to human rights.
Wed., Oct. 17, 9 p.m., $14-$16, MilkBoy Philly, 1100 Chestnut St., 215-925-MILK, milkboyphilly.com.
