R.A.P. Music by Killer Mike

Erudite without being overwrought and passionate without being dogmatic, what we’ve got here may be the best rap album of the year – at least, so far.

Biographical shock value aside, R.A.P. Music provides enough jaw drops on its own merits that it’s sure to be a record that comes to define 2010s hip-hop in some way.

The resulting album is one that is deceptively simple, a send-up to the aggressive cultural awareness of old-school rap on the surface, filtered through a hundred different post-apocalyptic scenarios, musical and lyrical.

Limiting himself to one producer, legends-only guest spots, and a real sense that he'd better make this one count, Killer Mike rises to the occasion.

With R.A.P. Music, Killer Mike has made his play for not just the best rap album of 2012, but for the best of recent memory.

It certainly feels like the culmination of his unusual career. 

This is jazz, this is funk, this is soul, this is gospel… but most importantly, R.A.P. Music is rap music, as fresh as it comes.

What Killer Mike should be praised for here is making an album that’s shorn of any extraneous nonsense and simply goes hard – regardless of the style he does it in.

The ambition is to be applauded, but half the album’s a grind. And not the good kind. 

Tapping into some of the earlier hip hop influences, Killer Mike has a potentially great record with some weak hooks and underwhelming production in places.