Restiform Bodies are not just a monstrously inventive trio stretching the limits of hip hop-they're also ballers, and they don't want anyone to forget it. "[We] don't play any role playing games," states The Bomarr Monk, who borrowed his stage name from an obscure background figure in a sci-fi film. "We do coke and shit . . . and we swear, too." insists Passage, who writes lyrics about Shirley Temple and hot air balloons. And as far as their recent collaborations with the girls of electro-spazz duo Blectum from Blechdom? They did it all for the nookie. "We read an article in the [San Francisco Bay] Gaurdian, and we thought one of 'em was cute, so we figured we'd call." You know how we do.

As far as beef, they might as well be ranchers. "Anti-Pop Consortium are dicks," says Passage, as blunt in person as he is elliptical on the mic. Apparently he's irked that APC rely on the tired rap vs. hiphop distinction to define their artistic goals. "It's so pretentious. It's the only thing they could come up with to distinguish between creative music and trashy music." Passages's lack of reserve is twice as surprising when you know that his group is the newest addition to the anticon crew roster, whose members have been no stranger to squabs-though they haven't always claimed decisive victories.

But those incidents, just like rap vs. hiphop, are old news, and Restiform are all about the future. They were in front of the pack with the multi-ethnic, lo-fi, phonemic polemics of their self-titled debut (2001 6months), and now they're looking to pad the lead, dropping the deadweight of unnecessary genre allegiances. "We've been moving from where we started, with a hip hop goal, and moved away from that," says Telephone Jim Jesus, who contributes vocals and production to the group. Passage agrees, and then some: "I don't really have any desire to make hip hop anymore. I just think the rap underground is trash." So instead of