For many artists, establishing consistency is a challenge that can take an entire career. A musical identity costs years and multiple albums to discover, at which point changing tastes or artistic complacency may require yet another revolution, as audiences want to hear familiar and new sounds all at once.

So it’s a pleasant surprise that in hip-hop, where innovation and tradition are locked in constant strife, one group has quietly managed to both deliver the expected goods while further developing their sound. And if you ask them, it wasn’t even that difficult.