Styles P

One quick glance at the title of Styles P's latest platter, Phantom: Gangster Chronicles Vol. One indicates that the New York-based rapper doesn't give a fuck about subtlety. While he has garnered a fair amount of notoriety from his membership in The Lox and his remix work with Jadakiss, he's earned his East Coast street cred, thanks to a stint in jail and a former career of drug peddling. He's lived it, so he's rapping about it.

On the Chronicles, Styles is a harder than back-to-back life sentences in maximum security prison MC, presiding over tougher than leather hip-hop with a bunch of guests on a record that recalls classic rap elements of fellow New Yorkers Run-D.M.C.. It also easily recalls the West Coast vibe of Ice Cube during his formative, angrier years—the pre-family comedy days, if you will. However, Styles pushes rap forward with his music all the while recalling and paying some homage to the past. As the rap goes on "Cook Up," time is money, and Styles doesn't waste any of yours. "I'm Your Pusher" camps out in your cranium for weeks on end, thanks to the stutter-step beat and the super singable and head-bobbable chorus. It's a song that screams with hit potential, but the hardcore nature of the subject matter may stunt the songs commercial popularity. If that's the case, the jam will still resonate with the urban underground, further upping Styles cred. It's a win-win situation for the rapper.

Rather than pour over the album's "guest list" or pontificate on the album's "featuring" status, we'll just give Styles the props he deserves as the master of this album's ceremony.

— Amy Sciarretto
12.11.08

Whether you look at it as an aboveground mixtape or a disjointed compilation of loose tracks, Phantom Gangsta Chronicles, Vol. 1 is a minor entry in the Styles P discography. The liner notes are minimal, the running time is short, and the highlight of the set isn't a Styles P cut at all. It's Straw & Trav's gangsta party number "I'm Your Pusher" that steals the show with its infectious "You don't want it with me" chorus plus a tight loop that combines funk with Duane Eddy-style guitar. Throw it in a Tarantino film and it'll blow up. Styles' big moment is the "no regrets" number "Nuttin Come EZ," which features a piano line straight out of the Bruce Hornsby playbook, but this stark look into the past has its impact blunted by all the other lesser and like tracks included. Mega-fans of the rapper and his D-Block crew already have most of these cuts on underground mixtapes, but they may find the bonus DVD filled with videos and live performances of some interest. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi