It's got to be some kind of record: eight Boston hip-hop artists are gathered for a photo shoot on a Saturday. Before noon. Among the assembled is Mr. Lif, who is on time despite the early hour and some serious jet lag. Lif's got to manage his time well these days, because he's running on a pretty tight schedule. A couple of hours after the photo session, he's driving up to New Hampshire for a gig at Dartmouth. The following day Lif's due in Brooklyn (by noon!) for another photo shoot; a few days later, he leaves on a two-week tour with Chicago post-rockers Tortoise. Despite his overbooked Filofax, Mr. Lif made room to talk with the Phoenix on the occasion of his first Best Music Poll award. For over an hour, as we enjoyed Indian food at Himalaya on Mass Ave, Lif spoke openly about the ups and downs of the past year, the state of the Boston rap scene, and the widening schism between underground and independent hip-hop.

Q: There's been a lot of buzz about the Boston hip-hop scene lately. What's your take on it?

A: I think it's very cool that artists aren't waiting for major labels to pick them up and just going for their own. Cats are taking their own loot, going into the studio, and then putting records out on local labels and getting distribution - I think that's an incredibly positive thing. As for the community of listeners - they're phenomenal. Whenever I feel jaded and I feel that there are dead spots, I'm always shocked out of it. Someone will throw a hip-hop show at the Middle East and it'll be packed. It's definitely thriving and it's definitely starting to get national recognition. I was just out in California and cats were describing Boston as one of the illest underground scenes on the globe.

Q: Does it have a lot of room to grow?

A: There is a large gap somewhere between making the records and putting them out on an independent - and then taking it to a bigger place. Which is what I'm suffering from. I'm trying to figure it out right now - how to get more widespread recognition? A major label is not the right move for me. They aren't going to let us do what we want to do, and I know that Insight [a local MC/producer] and I want to do a record that is authentically us.... I don't want to deal with label executives. I mean, we'll make a song that's our favorite shit, and then some label guy will say, " Well, we don't think that it's suitable for an album. "

Q: But do you think that the independent labels and the underground scene have some problems?

A: Like I said, the independents have a problem taking the music to a higher level, getting it more national or global recognition. Also, part of the problem with the underground scene is that I hear cats trying to conform their style, to become more commercially viable. I see labels that start out independent but bend their style to put out more commercial stuff. " Let's water it down a little bit, hopefully people won't notice. "

I also hate seeing lyrical styles that I detest become the norm. Like the flow that Jay-Z started. Now this is no disrespect to Jay-Z, but now it's become the industry standard, and everybody rhymes in that format. It used to be taboo - you wouldn't rhyme like that if you were an underground cat, but now everyone does it. That's a problem. [There] needs to be movement, because the more of us that are out there sticking to our guns, the better the chance that someone will break through and change things.

I mean, you look at who is making the innovative music these days, it's OutKast.... But it's only because they are established artists and have four or five albums out already. Yo, if OutKast walked into any record label now with " Bombs Over Baghdad " on their demo, the label would get pissed off. Straight up. They would never be able to get that record out. That's what we're up against. The industry is not looking for brand-new innovation, because they don't hear any commercial hits. That's all I hear from labels, " We don't hear a hit. " And I don't expect them to ever hear a hit.

Q: You've been playing with a lot of non-rap acts in Boston. Is that a good way to increase the hip-hop audience?

A: Yeah, I think so. I also think that the best avenue for real hip-hop is to take it to an alternative label - market it like a rock record. Market it to an alternative audience, don't try to sell it to the hip-hop audience. Commercially, we'll never have success there, because we're not making club songs. And that's what a hip-hop label does these days. Hip-hop at the major labels has two ways to go: either make some smooth shit that people can groove to, like Common, or if not that, you're making straight-up club joints. You're either Ja Rule or Common. There is no place for us in the hip-hop department at a major label, which forces me to think that I have to look elsewhere. From the proof of what's happened here in Boston - you tell people that something is innovative and that it exists, then you'll have punk rockers showing up at hip-hop shows. And you will have alternative radio spinning it, and calling you to do on-air performances. So why not just tell the world that: this is some alternative shit!

Q: Why does your music appeal to the alternative audience?

A: When I'm working on lyrics, I always try to talk about things that are universal issues that everyone has to deal with on one level or another. So hopefully people will feel that it relates to their life. I've heard the word " political " to describe what I do and it's funny, because I don't have any love for politics, I don't read the newspapers or really check what politicians are doing. I just go off of how I feel and how I'm affected by society. Hopefully people are receptive to that and feel the sincerity of the music. I just did a joint called " Live at the Plantation, " which is about being at work and wanting time to pass so you can just be free. Who can't relate to that? Only people that have never worked.

Q: Do you have to change up your set when you perform for a non-rap crowd?

A: The focus is more on crowd participation. They can get bored just watching you kick rhymes, so you have to involve them actively in the show. For this Tortoise tour, we're playing a highly interactive set. We have only 20 or 30 minutes every night, so it's going to be a really compact set, jam to jam to jam. Keeping the momentum going; switching up the pace a lot. Sometimes when I perform for crowds that aren't hip-hop, I like to give them a little " Hip-Hop 101 " - throw out a couple facts. Insight and I did a show at Tufts, and it wasn't a predominantly hip-hop audience, so before we went into a battle track, I stopped and explained the importance of battle-rhyming in hip-hop. So the audience has something to connect with and they don't think you're just talking shit.

Q: What about when you play overseas?

A: No, I usually don't change anything, except for Japan, which was drastically different because of the intense language barrier. I did two shows in Japan [with Company Flow] - Osaka and then Tokyo. Osaka drew about 500 people, sort of a warm-up show, but we did it like we were playing for an American audience. But you can't just go up there on some MC shit, because people don't understand what you're saying. So we actually recorded that show with a video camera and then studied it afterwards. And we realized that because of the language barrier we would have to give a much more physical show, so they can feel some of the energy. I adjusted my style to have more melodies, holding onto words longer, more melodic-type flows so they can grasp it easier. I remember when we did Tokyo, I had a migraine after the third song. We were just jumping around - it was crazy - the most exhausting show I have ever done. It was for 2000 people, and they do their shows over there like raves, so we didn't go on until 2:30 in the morning. It was mad late.

Q: Has it been hard being on the road so much this year?

A: It's been difficult; a couple of times I thought I was losing my mind because I wasn't making music at all. But it's been good to have some separation time between the Enters the Colossus project and the next project, which is going to be an album with Insight.

Q: It's been such an eventful year for you. Have you changed a lot over the past 12 months?

A: I can't even express what I know now compared to last summer. I basically lost the ability to rhyme for a few months. I had a throat problem, so I thought my career was over. That was a huge lesson. I've also been involved in a long-term relationship and I'm trying to manage to do shows and block out time to see her, save up money to go visit her, and then come back to get busy on stage. My perception is just so different now. I might have come out of the Enters the Colossus era believing that I was a political artist. Now, [if] anyone asks me what my goal is or what my mission is, I'm just trying to enjoy every day of my life. There's no time to waste, because you never know when your time is up.