Pick a Bigger Weapon (2006)

Oakland rapper Boots Riley has been making radically political, increasingly brilliant hip-hop since 1993's impressive Kill My Landlord. Probably his best yet, Pick a Bigger Weapon is a psychedelic funk and soul session with cameos by MC Black Thought (the Roots) and Tom Morello (Audioslave). Some bits —like the chorus imagining sex between political figures on ''Head (Of State)'' — are a bit much. But given the smarts, and truths, behind Riley's hyperbole, it's far more admirable than hip-hop's usual tall tales.