A slurry pool of rhythm oil photo: Arthur Jafa Mutamassik and Morgan Craft Rough Americana Circle of Light Mutamassik Bidoun Mis more music most popular most commented The Return of Mr. Black Dirty Blonde by Annie Fischer Rap's 2008, Beyond Lil Wayne by CHRISTOPHER R. WEINGARTEN The Watson Twins' Fire Songs by WERNER TRIESCHMANN Gilberto Gil Bleats Like a Seal by Mike Powell Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's Empire of Dirt by Reed Fischer Trash Talking With Harvey Weinstein by Tony Ortega Coming and Then Licking It Up. Is This a Gay Thing? Savage Love by Dan Savage At Home With Competitive Swallowers Crazy Legs and Eater X by Andy Kropa Gene Simmons and the Whores He Admires La Dolce Musto by Michael Musto Columbia's Knotty Noose Problem by Graham Rayman The 'W.' Stands for 'War Criminal' (17) Nat Hentoff Scientology's Crushing Defeat (15) Tony Ortega Runnin' Scared: From Brooklyn, a Rap Campaign Against Tight Clothes (9) Runnin' Scared: Arcynta Ali Childs Runnin' Scared: The City Pitted Kids Against Artists in the East Village (6) Runnin' Scared: Chloé A. Hilliard Savage Love: My Boyfriend Almost Fathered a Lesbian Couple's Baby?!? (5) Savage Love: Dan Savage

Unfortunately it's a rather thick message to get, and the bulk of RA is too splintery and shard-like. Loud blasts give way to tentative, squirmy scrapes while powerful Middle Eastern folk choruses bark at airlifted dub poets; marching nations are trampled by Mutamassik's jungle breaks and Craft's spurting guitar. The jump cuts add spirit—war is jumpy and nervy, we know—but lose the big picture; we're playing for hearts and minds, not attention span.

Where her improvised set is coy and tricky, Mutamassik's new mix CD, Bidoun, is true grit. She sifts and roots for the giant, clanging sound of fallen empire, leaving the rough and taped edges showing. The transitions are sudden; the blends are resistant, reluctant. MCs from New York go elbow-to-elbow with MCs from the Middle East, while timeless, wandering chants find common step with Wu-Tang Clan's RZA or warbling blurts of white noise. It's disorienting and charming—not exactly one happy family, but a family nonetheless—and it all bleeds into a slurry, punky pool of rhythm oil. The message here is much clearer: Rhythm saves, and it feels the same in Brooklyn or Dubai.