Feeding off an
LOX reunion and the two diverse solo albums released previously (2012's rangy
The World's Most Hardest MC Project and 2013's stoner album
Float with producer
Scram Jones), rapper
Styles P takes advantage of his recent roll and squanders none of that momentum on
Phantom and the Ghost. Past the
Basquiat-meets-Pac-Man artwork there's the usual
Mobb Deep-styled coldness with "Never Safe" and "Creep City" combining for a one-two opening punch with some electro underneath, courtesy of producers
Joe Milly and
Black Saun, respectively. The beats remain diverse, even returning to the eerie piano-fueled boom-bap on the great "Don't Be Scared," but
Styles travels far and wide with his writing pen as well, telling his son a "do as I say, not as I did" story on the key cut "Rude Boy Hip Hop" with
Raheem DeVaughn. Put the poppy,
Jadakiss-type cut "We Gettin" on the end and
Phantom and the Ghost is the big home-run payoff after a string of interesting but B+ albums. ~ David Jeffries
