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Styles P

Super Gangster (Extraordinary Gentleman) | Koch
By LAUREN CARTER  |  February 19, 2008
2.5 2.5 Stars
STYLES-P_inside
In a genre where bravado regularly trumps skills, it’s not surprising that Styles P, a survivor of the ’90s D-Block crew, keeps touting his own greatness, as if making the statement could make it come true. Yet for every overblown claim to the rap throne on this ambitious 19-track release, P musters a degree of menace few can match. The mood is reminiscent of early Mobb Deep, and though P’s tales of strife and borderline paranoia aren’t quite as gripping as Deep’s Prodigy/Havoc tag team at their height, his rhymes are generally engaging enough to prop up the album when guests including Ghostface Killah, Beanie Sigel, Black Thought, and fellow D-Blockers Jadakiss and Sheek Louch aren’t chiming in. Sinister Alchemist-produced numbers like “All I Know Is Pain” and “Green Piece of Paper” plus the dark “In It To Win It” prove that though the top may be a stretch, P at least belongs in rap’s upper echelon.
Related: Beyond ‘Dirty Water’, Millenium thug, The Roots | Rising Down, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Hip-Hop and Rap, Music,  More more >
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ARTICLES BY LAUREN CARTER
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  •   RAPPING IN THE DARK  |  March 10, 2008
    Spotlights are for flashy rappers. Joe Budden prefers to spit in the dark.
  •   STYLES P  |  February 19, 2008
    P at least belongs in rap’s upper echelon.
  •   THE KILLERS  |  November 27, 2007
    In spite of its self-depreciating title, this odds-and-sods collection of the usual B-sides lives up to some of the best material the Las Vegas foursome have delivered.

 See all articles by: LAUREN CARTER

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