In my humble opinion, the two best hip-hop releases of the year are, in order, Murs’ latest collaboration with 9th Wonder, Fornever, and Nocando’s debut long player Jimmy The Lock. Murs of course is a legend of California indie rap; Nocando—pronounced as in Hall and Oates, “I can’t go for that/No can do”—is a battling vet who came out from the Project Blowed scene to become the resident MC at Low End Theory, the Los Angeles club night that’s become the local home to adventurous bass grooves spanning dubstep to Flying Lotus. Separately, they’ve helped bring indie hip-hop back to its prime vitality in 2010, flipping genres like pancakes, keeping their underground cred high with witty, unpredictable rhymes; together, they prove unstoppable on the new remix to “Hurry Up And Wait,” a standout track that first appeared in its original form on Jimmy The Lock.

Another Low End resident, Nobody, contributed the edgy but catchy backing track: with its stuttering “no-n-no-no” hook and thumping drums, making “Hurry Up And Wait” like a Bladerunner “A Milli” on the underground tip. It’s an incredible beat, no doubt, spurring the MCs on to true greatness. Headliners Murs and Nocando are of course mindblowing on the mic, getting profane, hilarious, irreverent, politically incorrect and totally perceptive with each line; Murs tells some raunchy stories that evoke his classics on love and sex like “Freak These Tales”—totally NSFW, but supremely lyrical regardless. But the alliance of Western MC talent on this track seriously holds its own. The real standout is the blazing verse from Dumbfoundead, Nocando’s homey from Project Blowed. It’s the combo of talent, however, that makes this beat even the stellar original. “So magical, man” Murs states at the beginning of the remix—so true.