Introducing: Big Mo

Who: Rapper Mohammed Alkhadher.

Sounds like: An upper-echelon lyricist in the mold of Ras Kass and Nas, with superior beat selection and a socially conscious perspective that's easy to digest.

For fans of: Lupe Fiasco, KRS-One, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, the Narcicyst.

Often in hip-hop, too many artists carrying the "conscious" banner suffer from mic skills that leave a lot to be desired. Conversely, a lot of top-notch MCs have bad taste in beats. Mohammed "Big Mo the Nomadic" Alkhadher is the rare artist who both beasts in the booth and excels in picking beats that hit hard.

Having dual citizenship in Kuwait and the U.S., the Portland-based rapper's worldview has been informed by a life spent shuttling between the Middle East and the Pacific Northwest, and he's spent his career tackling issues both local and geopolitical. His new release, True North, is a neck-snapping headphone masterpiece, with East Coast-style boom-bap production helmed by local beatsmith Johnny Cool.

"[True North] is a metaphor for my moral compass," Alkhadher says. "Throughout my career in the last two, three years, I've focused on delivering the message and less on the entertainment side of it. So going into this project, I was trying to find the balance between [being] conscious and entertaining—so people can listen to the music, ride to the music, have a good time to the music, but at the same time get the message that I want to stay true to."

Despite Alkhadher's declarations of pop accessibility, don't get it twisted. True North sounds like the best golden-age hip-hop, with immaculate rhymes and production so ill your mom will warn you about "your face getting stuck that way," but it maintains a sharp edge, addressing the military-industrial complex, Islamophobia and the racism he's experienced right here in Portland.

"This project is more poppy than anything I've ever done before," Alkhadher says. "It's purpose was to be catchy, but there's still a conscious underlying tone. And it's not hard to catch, it's not like it's deep, deep in there. It's there on the surface. It's easy to catch if you're looking for it, but at the same time it's easy to just ride to and enjoy."

SEE IT: Big Mo plays Kelly's Olympian, 426 SW Washington St., with Johnny Cool, Tope and Serge Severe, on Saturday, Feb. 21. 9 pm. $10. 21.

WWeek 2015