Diverse wrapping up long-awaited new album

By Andy Downing | Special to the Tribune
May 31, 2009

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-0531-diverse-profi...

On "Escape Earth," one of just a few tracks by Diverse to materialize since the release of his 2003 debut, "One A.M." (Chocolate Industries), the MC raps about disappearing into outer space and frolicking on the moon. "Space is so vast/I just can't grasp/The magnitude from the surface of Earth down there," he rhymes. "If I never return I don't care."

It has been more than six years since Diverse (born Kenny Jenkins on the South Side) released his much-hyped, full-length debut -- a veritable lifetime in hip-hop. The rapper's follow-up effort, "Round About," has been rumored for years (a 2005 Chicago Tribune article notes that the MC is putting the "finishing touches" on the album). It's as if the artist absconded to the cosmos to drift among the stars.

The circumstances behind the rapper's lengthy hiatus -- which will finally come to a welcome close when his sophomore album is released in the late summer/early fall -- are far more circuitous, involving everything from issues with sample clearance to a deluge of personal tragedy. But, even more than that, there was Diverse's desire to craft an artistic work that will have an impact long after he's gone.