Beanie Sigel

Few rappers sound more at home than Beanie Sigel does. Rap isn't just a part of his life—it is his life. That makes him both a supremely solid MC and a man simply working to fulfill his duty. This matter-of-fact tone is why he's so relatable and a large reason why his last effort—the post-jail testament The B.Coming—was such a triumph. Now a few years removed from the big house, Sigel is back with The Solution, an album that sees him almost as concerned with the VIP room as with the streets.

Sigel proves surprisingly deft at handling the album's more glitzy material, weaving nimbly through the buzzing synths and 8-bit twinkles on "Bout That." R. Kelly drops by on "All the Above," adding melodramatic theatrics to the track's crisp live drums for a hand-waving, dance-floor killer. When Sigel puts his mack moves to the test during "I'm In," he sounds so smooth you almost believe his pick-up lines would work even if he wasn't a rap star—almost.

Luckily, Sigel doesn't completely abandon the hard-knock narratives that have garnered him so much respect in the hood. He re-awakens his inner Broad Street Bully on songs like the sinister "What They Gonna Say to Me." In lesser hands the Ozzy Osbourne-sampling "The Day" would sound contrived, but Sigel has enough rock-star swagger to keep the guitars in their place. And as his psyche splits in the soul-searching "Dear Self," we hear an incredibly self-aware man struggling to reconcile his own hypocrisies.

While older fans may take issue with the high-gloss numbers on this album, Sigel's got nothing to prove. He's not making music to please anyone; he's making music because he has to.

—Chas Reynolds
12.27.07