Here you have three guys who approach hip hop from decidedly left-field perspectives. There’s Cut Chemist, the scratch-happy DJ and producer behind backpack-rap consortium Jurassic 5 and world-beaters Ozomatli. There’s Mr. Lif, the long-dreaded Definitve Jux MC whose most towering record, I Phantom, is a narrative concept album that follows an everyman b-boy from birth to the apocalypse—while still managing to be an easy, enjoyable listen. Then there’s Edan, who studied hip hop production at Boston’s esteemed Berklee College of Music but whose omnivorous, well-informed productions and wordy, adenoidal flow are far from merely academic. Bonus: Someone outside the show with a Jansport full of CD-Rs is 100% guaranteed to ask you if you “support local hip hop.” ERIC GRANDY

Fri., Aug. 19, 8 p.m., 2011