While the title became more and more ironic with every pushed-back release date,
Styles P's long-delayed
Time Is Money feels immediate, like an excellent mixtape with extremely high production values, and certainly not what you'd expect from a "four years in the making" album. This vital slab of street music pops from the get-go with "G-Joint," a vicious stab at rival gangs --
G-Unit included -- with producer
Huu Banga crunching a sample of
Asia's "Only Time Will Tell" into an amazingly fresh loop. Old-school soul -- with
Talib Kweli and
Gerald LeVert stopping by for some worthwhile collaborations -- dominates the next three cuts, then
Styles' old crew
the LOX appear and the radio-friendly section of the album begins.
T.I.'s favorite
Crystal Waters loop is featured on "Favorite Drug" and
Akon adds his usual hooks and swagger to "Can You Believe It," and while it's been a standard exercise in how to make a solid thug album up to this point, "I'm Black" is a different story altogether. As
Time Is Money was seeing release, blogs were all over the track claiming radio wouldn't touch it, then radio claimed they weren't shipped it. It really was perfect blog-age marketing, since who would think a single with "Even tho' my skin is kinda light/That just means my ancestors were raped by somebody white" would be sandwiched into the drive-time playlist? The song's use of "Black" instead of "African American" was also at issue, but as
James Brown gets name-checked and
Marsha Ambrosius from
Floetry lays the serious soul on the chorus, it becomes apparent that
Styles is recalling an era where Panthers roamed America and "Sing it loud/I'm Black and I'm proud" was the slogan. Somehow, the track blends well into the album, and while there's a case to be made that
G-Unit beefing and club tracks don't mean much from a rapper who has grown significantly and can now bring a revolution, when
Styles paints a picture of partying, irresponsible gangster living, or hanging with your crew, it's just as vivid, just as exciting. Add solid production from
Hi-Tek,
the Alchemist, Scott Storch, and
Lil Jon with a tight track list that has no tolerance for filler, and you've got a knockout full-length.