The Prodigal Son Returns to His Hip Hop Roots... When Joe Con dropped his first album (Awake & Dreaming) back in 2005, the seeds for his musical departure from hiphop were already sewn. Though the 18 track album was a lyrical and poetic tour de force-- a quasi concept album exploring themes of identity, race, rebirth, and the quest for truth amidst the crisis and chaos of post-9/11 America, nearly overflowing with intricate verses packed with dense imagery and impressive wordplay, it was bookended by a vastly different, though equally compelling kind of song. Joe Con came from the bluegrass region of central Kentucky, so on the surface it should be little surprise that he writes and plays a wide range of thoughtful, folky, bluesy, tunes on the acoustic guitar. What would probably be far less expected to the uninitiated is the savage intensity and sheer brilliance of his rapping, which happens to be his native language, musically ...