If Styles P killed as many people as he rhymed about on The Phantom Menace, he’d be Ted Bundy. David Styles’ latest mixtape is solid but a mediocre offering when you compare this to his past work. Previous mixtapes like “Ghost Who Sat By The Door” show more of a willingness on his part to go outside of his normal realm when writing songs. The Phantom Menace keeps pace with the other mixtapes because of the superior beats that were chosen for Styles P to rhyme under. It’s impossible for anyone to sound bad on the “I Get Money” beat so expect superior wordplay from Styles P and Jadakiss. With Jadakiss saying, “I’m swimming in the money n***a/Still spendin’ “Benjamin” money” it keeps Lox fans anxious to hear Live, Suffer, Celebrate in the future. The Swizz Beatz-assisted “Blow My Mind” is tailor made for the clubs with its catchy chorus courtesy of the “One Man Band.” Styles P would be making a huge mistake not placing this single on his next solo album, Super Gangster, Extraordinary Gentleman. But Styles P’s mixtapes fails when he decides to stick to lyrical content that the public has already heard one hundred times from him. Styles P is too savvy to go into the studio every time and only have a murder, death, kill mentality. As Styles P gets older one would expect that his rhymes would evolve and not stay stagnant. When the Ghost rhymes, “Please don’t come around at the wrong time/Get your body lined up by the chalk line” this only perpetuates the stereotype that only violent lyrics get noticed. This mixtape succeeds in keeping core fans eagerly awaiting Styles P’s next solo project but struggles to bring in new ones. The Phantom Menace makes David Styles seem like a one trick pony but people who’ve heard him over the years know that he can produce better work. If Styles P fails to do so in the future he’ll be the equivalent of the dumb pretty girl in class. You’ll like her at first but after awhile she’ll get boring forcing you to look somewhere else. SOUNDCHECK:Styles P f/ Swizz Beatz “Blow My Mind”Styles P f/ Sheek & Jadakiss “You Don’t Want It”
