When Antipop Consortium went their separate ways in 2003, hip-hop was in a bad place. Dogged by negative press, the genre was split into two camps with the big, brash cartoon characters (50 Cent, D12 etc) on one side and the more leftfield, thoughtful MCs such as Nas and Mos Def on the other. Fast forward to the present and hip-hop is in even more of a rut. But thanks to Fluorescent Black (the Consortium’s reunion record) there’s now a light at the end of the tunnel. The rap collective are at their best when they fuse snappy hooks with odd rhymes (‘New Jack Exterminator,’ ‘Superunfrontable,’ ‘Capricorn One’) and despite being away from the limelight for most of the decade, we’re pleased to report that they haven’t lost their spark.