Absolutely no one should have been surprised by the delicious heap of rap that El-P served listeners last month in his most recent solo album, Cancer 4 Cure, and Killer Mike’s entirely El-P-produced R.A.P. Music. Each record the Brooklyn MC/producer has painstakingly chiseled from his radioactive brainspace over the last decade-and-a-half has given the hip hop genre at large a well-placed jolt at a time when many had found themselves tired of what they were being fed or apathetic to the scene altogether. The material on both C4C and RM is a shot in the arm in the form of amped-up electro-rap instrumentals and deranged storytelling/political criticism, which will act as the caffeine boost you need to get hyped as fuck at a show that will probably only vaguely resemble the rap show you’re used to seeing. With Killer Mike, Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire, Despot. TODD HAMM

Sun., July 1, 8 p.m., 2012