Tom Shimura has been quietly putting together an impressive, eclectic, discography ever since he appeared on the scene almost two decades ago. And while he didn’t release his first proper LP– Latyrx – until 1997, a handful on singles proved that the Berkley-based rapper (who is better known as Lyrics Born) deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as many of his NoCal contemporaries like Blackalicious, and DJ Shadow.

He’s never been satisfied with making the same album twice, and even hinted at wanting to move towards borrowing sounds from 1980’s synth-soul and pop on his last LP, Everywhere At Once. But where Everywhere barely hinted at the influence from artists like the Gap Band and Grace Jones, Lyrics Born’s latest and greatest LP turns the funk on full blast on songs like album-opener, “Kontrol Phreak,” “Pushed Aside/Pulled Apart,” and the Stanton Moore-featuring “Oh, Baby!”

“Shoulda Would Coulda” opens with a whistle sample that recalls the energy of one of Jones’ biggest hits – “Pull Up To The Bumper” – and features horn flourishes that sound like they were pulled straight off of a dusty Earth Wind & Fire record. Combine an acrobatic, well-enunciated sing-song delivery from Shimura with Jamiroquai-esque vocals from Australian songwriter/producer Sam Sparro and the song could easily be the soundtrack to your next late night solo dance party.

What’s most impressive about the album – and Shimura in general – is his willingness to change his delivery from song to song. He tries his hand at auto-tune on the spacey “Lies X 3” and makes the Black Eyed Peas sound like amateurs on the club ready “We Live By the Beat.” He even gets introspective (“I’ve Lost Myself”), high (“Pillz”), and pays homage to the reversed sample in The Beastie Boys’ “Paul Revere” on album highlight “I’m the Best (Funky Fresh In the Flesh).”

Lyrics Born sounds pompous without being an asshole on the three-minute track, and if it ever impacts modern hip-hop stations, then you can be sure that you’ll be singing the song’s hook for at least two months straight. Thrown in a few hilarious skits (he gets offered “Kombucha – booger water” and called “Larry Balls” in one of them) and what you’ve got in As U Were is 17 tracks of the most enjoyable intelligent hip-hop 2010 has seen.