Prog hip hop

TheBarbarian wrote: I would agree with the roots idea. Saw em live last year and was very impressed, an extremely cool guitar solo was played. Gets my reccommendation!

Me too,Phrenology is a great cd and The Roots are a very impressive band.

Try The Roots
they're old school hip hop but it's a live band - real musicians playing real instruments making fairly thoughtful hip hop.
Check out their album Phrenology.

here from Amazon's review:

Phrenology is the fifth studio album from standard bearers for rap's underground, The Roots. For years they were music's nearly men, unable to translate respect and admiration into multi-platinum sales. But 1999's Things Fall Apart, won them a Grammy nomination and their profile since has been much higher. They provided live backing for Jay-Z on his MTV Unplugged set, while drummer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson has become an in-demand session player and producer, working with D'Angelo, Bilal and Erykah Badu among others. Prenology is the result of years of gradual forward motion, a record which luxuriates in its own sense of confidence, belying the often troubled three years that went into it. Phrenology respects no boundaries: "Water" is a 10-minute, three movement piece, while "!!!!!!!" is 24 seconds of hardcore thrash punk; "The Seed (2.0)" shows that The Roots can do funky psychedelia, and "Quills" samples, of all things, Swing Out Sister's "Breakout". But at its heart this is rap of the highest order, the band's instrumental prowess adding both edge and centre to a sizzling, crisp production, while Black Thought's adds some bile to his trademark lyrical erudition and vocal precision. They're still a hip-hop group, but The Roots are a class apart.

i dont really like rap

but these are good i guess:
jedi mind tricks
el-p
cannibal ox

Anyone know any hip hop groups that have a more complex musical sound than just a beat with lyrics put over it and a chorus?

Not necessarily prog, but a more complex structure than average or something with a lot of variation in sound.

DJ Shadow is a good example of what im talking about