Styles P’s last album, Time Is Money, was released almost a year ago and let’s face it, the album was a disaster. It had originally been scheduled to be released in 2005 and Interscope pushed the album back nearly two years, after Styles P began to voice his displeasure over the handling of the album and entered into a highly publicized beef with Interscope labelmate, 50 Cent. When Time Is Money was finally released in late 2006, the label decided not to promote it whatsoever and there wasn’t even an official single or video for the album. This all came after Styles announced that he would be leaving Interscope for Koch.

It’s easy to see why Interscope might not have pushed this album as much as someone like Lloyd Banks, but the reality is that Styles P is one of the most talented lyricists in the game right now. It was unfortunate that Time Is Money went largely overlooked, because the album was actually pretty good, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t suffer from a number of problems in the musical sense. Styles P’s new album, Super Gangster, Extraordinary Gentlemen, is almost a total 180 from what we heard from Styles a year ago.

With this album, we actually get a lead single and a video (“Blow My Mind”), Styles’ creativity doesn’t seem nearly as hampered, and Super Gangster, Extraordinary Gentlemen is packed with 19 tracks, rather than only 12. The album starts off with “Blow My Mind,” featuring Swizz Beatz, which is definitely one of the stronger singles that I’ve heard this year. After that, we get this corny song with Ray J called “Let’s Go.” I’m not sure how Ray J and Styles P got together for this track, but even though this song really isn’t my thing, Ray J actually sounds decent over Hi-Tek’s poppy production. The weird thing about this song is that Ray J is singing about popping bottles in the club and chilling with some girl on an island, while Styles P is pretty much rapping about hardcore stuff like smoking weed and carrying guns as usual. It really doesn’t mesh well at all.

After “Let’s Go” is when the album really starts to take off though. “Alone In the Streets” is an introspective track, where we hear Styles rapping over a nice piano melody. This Vinny Idol produced track is pretty impressive, but wouldn’t be complete without Styles’ deep reflections on street life. “All I Know Is Pain” is another introspective track, produced by the Alchemist. Instead of reflecting on strictly street life, Styles also incorporates his history in the music business into this song. He makes his feelings on the current status of hip-hop apparent on the third verse, when he says “All I know is pain. I feel so drained / Rap niggas is insane. They on cocaine / What they call hot, I would call so lame/ They don’t care about the art and they show no shame.” Ain’t that the truth.

“Got My Eyez On You” is produced by Akon, who also sings the hook. This has to be one of my favorite Akon collaborations. The beat is moving and the hook is infectious. Styles speaks on some more deep issues with this song, discussing the feeling of hopelessness among inner city youths. This string of dope songs continues with “A Green Piece of Paper,” also produced by the Alchemist. On this song, Styles talks about some of the crazy things people do for money.

The second half of Super Gangster, Extraordinary Gentleman is just as good as the first, with songs produced by Kid Capri, Green Lantern, Pete Rock, and Dame Grease. On “Da 80s,” Styles raps for nearly 3 minutes straight over a 1980s influenced Kid Capri track. Ghostface Killah also shows up for a guest appearance on “Star of the State.” And the posse cut, “Gangster, Gangster,” produced by Pete Rock and featuring Jadakiss and Sheek Louch, is another standout track on the album. Of course Jadakiss has to outshine everyone on the track as usual, with rhymes like “Mountain of D, Carti frames, and pink gators/ Gotta learn how to deal with these weak-link haters.” “Cause I’m Black” with Black Thought is another great track, where both MCs talk about modern-day racism in America.

When I first heard this album, I was almost shocked at how much better it was than Time Is Money. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed Time Is Money quite a bit, but you could tell that it wasn’t Styles’ album, it was Interscope’s album. Styles regains all of his creative control with Super Gangster, Extraordinary Gentlemen and I think it’s safe to say that Koch was one of the best moves he could have made, given his situation. A track like “Da 80s,” with no hook, would have never made it on an Interscope album, and one of the things that makes Super Gangster so great is the grimy appeal that we get from a song like that. And while there are a couple tracks that aren’t great, Styles P really outdid himself with this album and with his growing fanbase, I think we’ll be hearing a lot more quality material from him in years to come.