Lil Scrappy, The Grustle

Combine the grind and hustle and one gets, the grustle. That’s exactly what Lil Scrappy does on his new album, The Grustle, which has the Atlanta MC getting back to his head-bustin’, crunk ways in his proper follow up to 2006's Bred 2 Die Born 2 Live.

Looking to make an example and let rap fans know that he’s still a force to be reckoned with, Scrappy quickly sets the tone on the set's opening track, “Face Off.” “Fuck security, niggas tryna get at me/Wildin’, throwin bottles, bustin’ heads in the VIP,” he spits aggressively, conjuring up memories of the rugged rapper getting thrown off stage by Orlando Police in 2004 and subsequently filing a $250 million lawsuit against them.

A few bars later, on the same track, Scrap snarls, “Another man is one thing I can’t fear/If he come near then he outta here,” before chanting the hook: “Face off, face off, keep poppin at the mouth, I knock your face off!”

“Helicopter,” featuring 2 Chainz and Twista, has Scrappy and his two guests rhyming intently over the intermittent sound of a chopper’s blades to accompany the solid banger. While salacious cuts like “Already Wet” and “Mr Cosbi”—the latter on which Scrappy declares, “Call me Mr. Cosby cause I let her suck my pudding pop”—fall flat, the rapper makes up for it, slick talking toward females well on “Good Morning” and “No Love.”

Though Scrappy won't create the same splash with this album that he did last decade, he’s not giving up on his Grustle. —Mark Lelinwalla