Despite the crowded title, this local hip-hop CD is a one-man show, the product of one Daniel Perez, who came straight out of Michoud (with a side trip to NYC) two years ago with his impressive debut, The Lagniappe Mixtape. His second full-length disc ups the ante even further in his bid for success, and it doesn’t just benefit from more professional production; it shows him expanding his worldview and range. Lots of rappers in this hyphenated 21st Century industry try to be all things to all people, but only Impulss performs skits where he plays doctor and patient, literally, at the birth of his artistic vision, then sticks around to comment on his own tracks in the persona of a Chalmette dude-bra. (“That was killa!”)

That extends to the music. While his flow suggests Mos Def with Kool Keith’s sense of humor, the backing tracks are wildly eclectic (and pop-savvy) enough to make him NOE’s answer to Andre 3000. The best song here, “No One To Call My Own,” uses its sample to do for flapper-jazz torch songs what the Geto Boys’ “Mind Playin’ Tricks On Me” did for blues. “Dew Dew Bruddas” creates much the same effect using ingeniously tortured synths alone. Impulss is also plugged into the new-wave, retrofuturistic shine all over the radio these days, but he gives it a unique Crescent City twist on “Fiyo On The Bayou,” which does indeed bite the Nevilles’ version while dwelling in a headspace all its own. In fact, Impulss’ dedication to the city isn’t just a show of post-Katrina faith; it informs his music enough to suggest some real, world-changing synthesis may be around the corner. “I hope everyone gets to come home,” he finishes his liner notes. New music like this proves there’s still an ever-evolving city to come home to.