"By Any Means Necessary": Militant rhetoric from a positive era built on change--an era that is all but dead today. First there was NWA; hot on their heels came Public Enemy, the true leaders and innovators of hip-hop's militant movement; and growling in the shadows of the West Coast lurked a panther. Paris was his name--his stance an intelligent mixture of Black Panther Party and Nation of Islam doctrine. Earpollution's Cecil Beatty-Yasutake does time on the front lines of Paris' militant hip-hop and returns to file this report.

When isolation takes over it can be as profound and maddening as any wound or blow you can suffer physically. But the more outcast you become, the more you tend to seek out and find the gathering places of those alone. Soon you realize you're not alone at all, for even the floaters find common ground with each other. eP's Al Cordray finds a pleasant opportunity to discuss the meaning in all that separation and gathering with Floater's Rob Wynia, who seems optimistic enough to throw in a little weightlifting and pyromania for variety.