Scarface

Scarface picked a slick title for his ninth and—supposedly—final album. The grizzled Houston rapper’s current status in hip-hop already suggests that of a long-tenured professor: Though only occasionally heard from, he still holds sway over the curriculum—see 2002’s The Fix, a commercially marginal but highly influential LP that helped give the “coke-rap” phenomenon its legs. Considering the fleeting appeal that “retirement” seems to hold for rappers (see Jay-Z and, um, Scarface, who’s threatened to put down the mike several times before), it smartly leaves the door open for a return.

But like a semiretiree with his mind on the golf course, ’Face coasts his way through certain Emeritus obligations—namely “Forgot About Me,” a mediocre tête-è-tête with Lil Wayne and Bun B that should have been phenomenal, given the level of charisma involved. When left solely to his own devices, though, the former Geto Boy delivers typically devastating results. “Can’t Get Right” is the sort of financial report (“Gasoline five dollars, how the fuck we gon’ drive / Can’t afford to fill our prescriptions so we all gon’ die”) that Young Jeezy promised but didn’t deliver on The Recession. And “High Powered,” which taunts hated H-Town rival Lil’ Troy over a ghostly beat from longtime collaborator N.O. Joe, makes for a delightfully unlikely lead single. There’s no question that Emeritus is a respectable closing statement from the impeccably consistent rapper. But it’s not so definitive that news of a follow-up wouldn’t be welcomed.