Knux

The Knux is among the most exciting ensembles working in hip-hop today. Nebbish brothers Krispy Kream and Rah Al Millio are Hurricane Katrina evacuees who landed in Los Angeles, where they set roots and made a masterful debut in Remind Me in 3 Days. The duo bypasses the genre’s more base lyrical inclinations — money, parties, women — for a musical approach to the genre that features creative use of instrumentation and electronics, particularly a savvy use of slinky ’70s-sounding guitar lines as on “Fire (Put It in the Air),” with an OutKast-ready chorus and a delightfully geeky little synth solo.