A gritty street vibe with that signature New York sound are the things to describe Styles P aka. The Ghost’s newest album, Masters Of Ceremonies. One third of the group The LOX, Styles P brings his version of street life mixed with Hip-Hop rhymes that tell a tale that everyone can relate too.

The album takes you on a rollercoaster ride of high and lows. Styles P brings along a host of notable features including Lloyd Banks, Busta Rhymes, Rick Ross, Pharoahe Monch and of course his LOX brothers Jadakiss and Sheek Louch.

The album begins with How I Fly, which is a fun track that cleverly talks about a popular past-time. The hook is aided by the smooth melody of Avery Storm, which seems to get you ready to lay back and burn one. Lloyd Banks helps out with an unofficial warning on the track We Don’t Play as him and Styles give you a lyrical warning of what they are made.

Styles P keeps it real with Keep The Faith and Children as he reflects on the struggles that people go through every day. The low-keys beats on these tracks go hand in hand with the seriousness of each bar that he raps.

Styles amps it up another notch with his band mates Sheek Louch on Street Shit and Jadakiss on It’s Ok. Sheek seems to bring his high octane antics and Jada does his usual mellow rhymes while they both rap about having a hood time. Busta Rhymes and Rick Ross help out on the next track Harsh, which is one of the standout tracks on the album. Busta lyrically destroys on this track and Rick Ross brings his Southern accent with swagger to match to pretty much overtake the song while you seemed to forget that Styles was even on the track. Don’t Turn Away with Pharrell singing the hook, is more like an interlude and Uh-Ohh, which is a shout out to fellow D-Block members ends the album.

Although on some of the tracks Styles P seemed to get outshined by the guest features, the album serves as a reminder that not all artists rap about cars, money and clothes. Styles took you through a journey from his point of view of how it really is. The album, yet simple, seemed to accomplish what it set out to do and that is to keep it real out here in these streets.

Standout Tracks: “Children”, “Street Shit”, “Harsh”

Tracklisting:

1. How I Fly ft. Avery Storm
2. We Don’t Play ft. Lloyd Banks
3. I’m A Gee ft. Rell
4. Ryde on Da Regular
5. Keep the Faith ft. Aja
6. Children ft. Pharoahe Monch
7. Street Shit ft. Sheek Louch
8. Feelings Gone
9. Harsh ft. Rick Ross & Busta Rhymes
10. Its Ok ft. Jadakiss
11. Dont Turn Away ft. Pharrell
12. Uh Ohh ft. Sheek Louch

As reviewed by Chermere Matthews for YR

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