Suckapunch

"This is the music that you ought to listen to," spits MC Mic Crenshaw on Suckapunch's debut album, Pocket Change Philosophy, the boldness of his declaration intensified by the fact that the line is the first on the album. That's a lot of bravado for a group that has only been around for a year and could be dismissed as throwaway hip-hop boasting, if it weren't for the fact that this trio can actually back it up.

Billing itself as "the next evolution in Portland hip-hop," Suckapunch is the combined effort of Hungry Mob and Cleveland Steamers wordsmith Crenshaw, guitar virtuoso Dale Morris and former Dahlia electro producer Keith Schreiner.

Schreiner, who accompanied Jen Folker's honey-butter voice in Dahlia, dropped into the world of hip-hop with a brutal collection of thumps backing up the hardcore vocals of veteran Crenshaw. Seeking out an unconventional hip-hop sound, the group swapped out the turntables and picked up guitar magician Morris.

The collective power of all this musical mastery is realized on the anti-Bush song "87 Billion Dollars." Between Schreiner's breakbeats, Crenshaw's deep, confident voice, Morris' chunky guitar and the soulful chorus provided by Siren's Echo and Hungry Mob's Toni Hill, the "next evolution" the band claims to be creating is on full display.

Generally speaking, sociopolitical hip-hop is hard to make without sounding cheesy. Even the best in the field--KRS-One, Public Enemy, Blackalicious--have all had moments of complete silliness. Why does most positive hip-hop sound naive? Blame the dance-club obsession with "White Lines." The Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five song alerted the world that coke is bad for you, but got away with it because the song was fun to dance to. In today's Age of Irony, it's even harder to tackle commercialism, government, racism and addiction and instill hope in the listener without sounding Pollyanna-ish.

But not for Suckapunch.

When Crenshaw talks about poverty and race on the slow-tempo R&B track "Just Like Me," he ties together corporate greed and self-delusion while never losing the groove. On the head-dropper "Moves," he sounds like a street tough talking about social lethargy and its contribution to the war machine.

But the album is not only politically progressive. "Sex Is Sonic" sets aside the policy discussion to provide a little jump for the rump. On "Politically Correct," Crenshaw admits "I'm not politically correct/ I like to talk shit/ All you critics eat a dick and then suck on a lozenge."

And as long as Suckapunch keeps pushing the envelope, Crenshaw can talk all the shit he wants.

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Suckapunch plays with QuiVaH and Siren's Echo Friday, Aug. 13 at the Ohm, 31 NW 1st Ave., 796-0707. 9 pm. Cover. 21+.