It’s easy for lyrical MCs to go over the top with their garrulous polemics. NYC’s Ian Levy eschews this tendency and keeps his introspective musings engaging. In the track “Complex,” he tackles the dichotomy between days teaching the youth in Harlem versus evenings “surrounded by accountants on a thousand dollar carpet; it’s a shark pit scarfing on my conscience, kid.” Like a painter struggling to choose the right colors to bring a canvas to life, Levy seems to labor over his verses, rhyme patterns, and content to deliver tracks that will stand out in the echoing alleys of a city rife with rhymers. In the Mosaic EP, available free on his bandcamp page, he examines his potential with such sharp focus that his fans are compelled to investigate with equal fervor. -Broke MC