Papoose, King Of New York

When Brooklyn lyricist Papoose dubbed himself the King of New York two weeks ago on Twitter, the hip-hop blogosphere went into a frenzy. "The king of the ny city is back whatsup peasants #kng of ny talk," he tweeted. After much criticism and debate, Pap returns with the claim, this time crowning it the title of his latest mixtape, King Of New York.

Kicking off the royal affair is the BK spitter's rendition of Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Otis." Here, Pap tries his hands on the The Throne's single spewing, "Make my bed in the Stuy, I sleep in y'all streets/I'm a certified wolf, so I'm eating y'all sheep." Later, he raps, "Shut down the jails from Clinton to Auburn/Flood the drug stores with cures, no more germs/Every young man become rich, we all earn/Little girls with long hair, no more perm."

On the triumphant "King Of NY," the industry vet stakes his claim for the prestigious title by breaking down some of his reasons. "Freed inmates from the Department of Corrections/"Law Library," I broke down different sections/Brought the feeling back when the whole city was stressing/Beast From The East, I'm Already A Legend." Another highlight is "Mind Games," where the rapper gets introspective over Beyonce's, "Party."

KONY features guest appearances from Remy Ma, who appears on the in-your-face, "Name Callin," Busta Rhymes and Lloyd Banks on the remix to Pap's "Party Bout 2 Pop," and more, including an occasional hard-hitting Thug-A-Cation posse cut.

Despite flexing his wit on a slew of original tracks and well-known instrumentals ("I'm A Boss," "Warning"), Pap falters with typical topics as well as a few cases of lackluster rhymes. On tracks like Miguel's "Sure Thing," he dashes, "You be the book, I be the author/You be the Blackberry, I could be the charger." The same lazy drawback is found on the bland party record, "White & Brown."

At a lengthy 26 tracks, King Of New York doesn't prove much of Papoose's bold claim however, it does showcase a hunger for the position. —Ralph Bristout