When it comes to street 'tapes, YO vet Styles P hardly ever disappoints. Fresh off appearing on Jadakiss' Consignment mixtape, the self-proclaimed "champ of the hard bars" returns with one of his own on the Diamond Supply Co. sponsored, The Diamond Life Project.

Despite being labeled as "skate-hop," per Jadakiss on the intro ("Hip-hop n-ggas that's rockin' the skateboard gear. So, this is 'skate-hop.'") the project's content is far from it. Always adhering to a rough and rugged approach on the mic, Styles keeps it 100% gully on the 11-track mixtape—on one track he even boasts about being the "only n-gga that's strong enough to face the Hulk." On tracks like the floating "Gripping Over Here," where P grips his lyrical .45 (alongside French Montana and Pusha T) and fires menacing lines like, ".44 long and shorty was all wrong/Thought he was thugged out, now his face is all gone/I don't care about your fam, I'll make'em all mourn," it's clear that despite the skate-hop reference, the Super Gangster 's razor-sharp callous wordplay is still intact.

From the brooding "Y-O Trill Shit," where Pinero and Bun B keeps it triller than most ("D-Block wild n-ggas, we jump police...you f-cking with the Ghost, then you getting murked") to the draggling "Poppin' Bottles" and the gem found on "Through the Struggle," SP cranks out another potent effort with Diamond Life.  Diamond to the next one...—Ralph Bristout

More From XXL