Urgent beats: experimental hip hop and grime artists roll out rhythms at Pontiac's Crofoot

If you think all hip hop sounds like the banal, recycled beats and raps that make up a majority of commercial productions, think again.

The artists appearing at a show that promises to challenge your preconceptions are examples of how to innovate and change the culture from within.

Step up EL-P, whose recent I'll Sleep When You're Dead LP took a painstaking four years to write, record and produce. Jaime Meline's (that's Brooklyn-based EL-P to his fans) fab titled record is about the struggle faced by those living in a rapidly changing society. Meline's credits are impressive, beginning with original solo tracks made in 1998, moving on to form the influential band Company Flow, collaborations with Blackalicious and Cannibal Ox and starting his own label Definitive Flow in the early 2000s.

What gives the event more international urban dazzle is support by Dizzee Rascal, best known as early leader of the UK-based music movement known as Grime. Real name Dylan Mills (pictured above), Dizzee Rascal made a splash in England, Europe and with some U.S. media in 2003 for his debut full length platter Boy in Da Corner. His most recent long player is Maths + English, originally released in 2007 on XL but now available from Definitive Jux as an MP3 download.

The show is May 14 at the Crofoot Ballroom, 1 Saginaw, Pontiac. Also featuring LA's Busdriver and Detroit's Invincible and DJ Graffiti. Doors 8 p.m. For tickets and more info go here.