Matching their superior microphone skills to a lush bed of live instrumentation, the trio recorded a sole, practically undistributed self-titled album in 1999 (reissued the next year on tiny indie label Pure Hip Hop, Inc.) that played to rapturous reviews (including a spot on Robert Christgau’s “Dean’s List” for the Village Voice’s famed year-end “Pazz & Jop” poll) but next to nil in sales.

As deserving of being called a particularly melodious poetry outing — with its penchant for labyrinthine wordplay and bohemian effortlessness — as a rap album, its three creators returned to their own solo and group projects soon after its release, leaving Haiku D’Etat as one of those albums destined to go undeservedly neglected but deservedly revered.