While juggling several side projects, New York

MC/producer El-

Producto, a.k.a.

COLOR="#003163">El-P) and brother-

in-beats DJ Mr.

Len are working on a

COLOR="#003163">Company Flow

concept album to be released in the fall.

"We want to do something that's as composed and

as coordinated as a

COLOR="#003163">Nine Inch Nails

album, but with our dirt — the dirtiest possible

piece of sh-- you can imagine," El-P said of the as-

yet-untitled album.

El-P also is in the studio with producer

COLOR="#003163">Dan "The Automator"

Nakamura,

COLOR="#003163">Rage Against the

Machine frontman

COLOR="#003163">Zack de la Rocha

and MC cohorts Mr.

Lif and

COLOR="#003163">Cannibal Ox on

various projects. Mr. Len is putting the finishing

touches on a solo album.

Company Flow's follow-up to their 1999 instrumental

album, Little Johnny From the Hospital, will be

released on Def Jux, a label El-P recently started

with Ozone Entertainment.

"We're going for an album that's an album as

opposed to a collection of songs," El-P said. "We're

going for a continuous theme, or recurring themes,

something that's as fluid as [

COLOR="#003163">Public Enemy's]

Fear of a Black Planet."

"The album is definitely a progression for [El-P],"

Amaechi Uzoigwe of Ozone Entertainment said.

"He's thinking beyond the typical hip-hop parameters

of what makes a track."

El-P will produce several tracks, and DJ Mr. Len will

co-produce some tracks, as on Little Johnny

From the Hospital. "Len brings a little more of the

street, you know. He brings a little more of that

aspect, more melodic," Uzoigwe said.

El-P said he planned on a maximum of four to five

guest appearances. "I want to actually be able to

perform the songs, instead of doing like a quarter of

a verse," he said.

El-P confirmed cuts featuring

COLOR="#003163">Indelible MCs

(Company Flow with the

COLOR="#003163">Juggaknots and

J-

Treds),

COLOR="#003163">Ill Bill from

Non

Phixion, Boston MC Mr. Lif and Harlem

natives Cannibal Ox (on the same track). Rage’s De

la Rocha, who asked El-P to produce several tracks

on his upcoming solo album, probably will appear,

as well.

The Beastie

Boys' label, Grand Royal, will release

a Company Flow 12-inch as part of its Blow Up

Factor series by the end of summer, Uzoigwe said.

The single, "Stupid Robot"/"Simple," will be their first

since 1998.

El-P also will collaborate with the Automator (of

Dr.

Octagon and

COLOR="#003163">Handsome Boy Modeling

School) on a full-length album. "We're

going to make beats that are hard to listen to," El-P

said. "People are going to hate it, which actually isn't

that hard to do."

The Automator described the album, tentatively due

early next year, as "a beat record, kind of hard-core

futuristic."

"We're doing a lot of different projects right now, but

Company Flow is always the sacred cow," El-P

said.

Company Flow released Funcrusher Plus, an

album that combined the previously issued

Funcrusher with subsequently released

singles, in 1997 to underground acclaim.

Contributions on Soundbombing (1997) and

Soundbombing II (1999), including the track

"Patriotism" (

HREF="http://media.addict.com/music/Company_Flo

w/Patriotism.ram">RealAudio excerpt),

solidified Company Flow's position in the New York

underground.