When one hears the phrase “hip hop band,” the natural inclination is to go, “Oh, like The Roots?” While The Roots are legendary for a reason, it’s an unfair comparison for any other group to live up to. Granted there aren’t that many live hip hop bands around, but that doesn’t mean they all sound the same. Chicago’s Sidewalk Chalk is a group should be listened to and enjoyed on their own terms. Bringing together a male emcee, female vocalist, keys, drums, bass, trumpet, trombone, and taps (as in a person in tap shoes), they craft a style of hip hop that leans heavily on jazz and R&B, much like early ‘90s groups like Digable Planets or Brand New Heavies, but that’s just their starting point. On their latest album, Corner Store, you’ll find a band with lots of interesting pieces that fit together really well, with lots of energy and creativity.

The album opens strongly, with emcee Rico Sisney dropping some clever introductory battle rhymes over a menacing bass line and tight, funky drums laying a foundation for the rest of the group to build on. With he opens the record by declaring “First things first,” before the music kicks in, its as if the group wanted listeners to take their hip hop roots seriously before expanding their sound throughout the rest of the record. I can’t blame them, either, since a lot of people are going to want to paint them into a corner or treat them as a novelty without spending some quality time with their music. As the opening track, “Birds of a Feather,” continues, the rest of Sidewalk Chalk reveals itself, with the subtle jazz of Charlie Coffeen on the keys, the silky-yet-powerful vocals of Maggie Vagle, the bright energy that the horns provide, and the interesting rhythmic flavor that comes from Jumaane Taylor’s tapping. Each member is individually talented, but they way they play off each other and come together is what really sets Sidewalk Chalk apart. Vagle has a strong voice, whose phrasing and melodic choices most remind me of Erykah Badu, and she easily moves back and forth between leading the song and lending flavor as a backup singer. As an emcee, it’s clear that Sisney has soaked up the history of his city, drawing on everyone from Common to Typical Cats, with a smooth flow that moves easily from free-flowing, train-of-thought rhymes, to concrete storytelling and solid hooks. The rhythm section is tight as can be, and the grooves set down by Garret McGinn on bass and Tyler Berg on drums can’t be denied. The way it all comes together, and the ground they are able to cover, though, is where Corner Store succeeds. There are slow ballads, such as “Satellite,” there are funky political jams like “Plastic,” and then there are songs like “Hats And Shoes,” where they find a brilliant in-between space, where it moves from minimalist jazz/hip hop, like Guru used to experiment with, to R&B slow jam, to noisy-hyper funk with a tap solo, and then back again. If you took just one aspect of Sidewalk Chalk, you’d have something decent, but by putting all of these pieces together you get a sum that’s greater than the whole. Add a guest spot from Psalm One at the end of the album, and you’ve got a really rewarding listening experience.

There are moments where things come together in more interesting ways than others, but there aren’t any really weak moments on the album. That’s just the challenge and the rewards of creating a group like Sidewalk Chalk and an album like Corner Store. If they can keep everyone together and continue to write and play and evolve, I think they could really be special.