by Brian WhitenerAfter a decade of underground recognition, New York-based producer\u002Flyricist Mike Ladd has emerged since 1998 as the hip-hop scene's prime genius. Easy Listening 4 Armageddon put him on the map, the all-star Infesticons album put him over, and Welcome to the Afterfuture is the articulation of a musical vision. Whether it will pan out in the real future is another matter, but at least it stands a chance. Welcome to the Afterfuture is a blender of sounds and styles and epitomizes the search that is leading cutting-edge hip-hop further into avant-garde and non-Western musical traditions. Airwave Hysteria has a sweet Bollywood sample with a tight chorus broken up by some hypnotic scratching. The ring mod and time-stretched vocals on Planet 10 are reminiscent of a Kid 606 album. There's a number of good tracks, but a few stand out, particularly 5000 Miles, where Ladd gets to display his lyrical skills (I'm 5000 miles west\u002FOf my future\u002FWhere's my floating car\u002FMy utopia) against fuzzed bass and organ figures. He gets props for entering the sci-fi realm without sounding like another Kool Keith carbon, although you might argue that it's simply more futurist than sci-fi per se. The most out track is I Feel Like 100 Dollars; it would be difficult to create more chaos at a slower tempo, for sure. There's some nice Air-esque jamming on To the Moon's Contractor, and the title track features a crunked funk dissection of contemporary ills via Nova Express. Not so successful is the cut No. 1 St., which falls into all the pitfalls of trying too hard, with self-important rhyming. It's not often that album reviews name check Ezra Pound, Mogwai, and Run-D.M.C., so buy this album. If hip-hop should have a tradition, then this is it -- experimentation.