If one were to anthologize the most vital work of independent hip-hop around the turn of the millennium, Binary Star’s “Reality Check” would be the compilation’s perfect deep cut. In 2000, the duo – that’d formed two years prior in prison – released an astonishingly sure-footed and lyrically original debut with Masters of the Universe, then broke up soon after. Binary Star’s co-founder One Be Lo, aka OneManArmy, went on to release a series of heady, often thematic solo records with titles that are extensive acronyms, while also releasing headphone-melting beat tapes. Austin luminaries Shelly Knicks, Norman Ba$e, Ben Buck, and Dub Equis make the scene.
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— Kevin Curtin