Curt Fields wrote about El-P in June 2007 for The Washington Post:

El-P, and indie rapper and a businessman (he founded the Definitive Jux label), has been quoted as saying his latest CD, "I'll Sleep When You're Dead," sounds like "a psychedelic Boogie Down Productions record."

That's an apt review, because like BDP's best, the tracks on "Sleep" are densely packed with words piled on words, phrases on phrases, twists on puns on punch lines. If you don't listen at least a half-dozen times, you won't even begin to get it.

Another fair comparison is to the Bomb Squad production team that gave so much oomph to such Public Enemy classics as "Fear of a Black Planet" and "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back." Like the Bomb Squad's, El-P's production style on "Sleep" is to create layer after layer of sound: driving drum beats, squiggling guitars, insistent vocals, distortions, samples, TV commercials, whatever he can get his hands on. The result is a more complex sound, one that's unafraid to embrace melody and hooks.

The CD features a number of guest appearances, but the roster of studio visitors ranges far beyond the usual cameo suspects. There are, of course, drop-ins from Definitive Jux artists such as Aesop Rock and Cage, but also contributing are Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala of the Mars Volta and James McNew of Yo La Tengo.

"Sleep" isn't an easy listen. It rewards only those who pay attention. Early in his career, as part of the group Company Flow, El-P was involved in making "Funcrusher Plus," an album that stands as an all-time rap classic. "I'll Sleep When You're Dead" doesn't rise to those heights, but it does reach the upper echelon of 2007's rap releases so far. Buy it -- and a pair of quality headphones to begin unraveling it.