Reviews:

Killer Mike isn't a monster, as his album title would have you believe,but he is schizophrenic. When he debuted on "Snappin' & Trappin',"from OutKast's Stankonia, Killer Mike seemed like a sexually-motivatedidiot savant. He rapped fiercely, but with clear intelligence, about the baserthings in life. He shined brighter, though, on "The Whole World,"Outkast's contribution to the Scooby-Doo soundtrack, on which he provedhimself a sharp stylist as well as a sharp tongue.

The second release on OutKast's Aquemini imprint, Killer Mike's debutlives up to both sides of his reputation thus far. Many of the tracks here aresharply observed, like "Scared Straight," the meticulously detailedcautionary tale of the drug life. On the elegiac "All 4 U," Mike proudlyasserts, "I was born to bring honor to this brown skin." "RapIs Dead" argues just that point, with Mike contending, "too many niggasstill ride Big and Pac's dick." Judging by the sonic diversity ofMonster, one could argue that Mike is merely riding OutKast's dick. It'sa cacophonous album, but it doesn't challenge, or cohere, in the way thatStankonia did. Instead, Mike finds ways to make these eccentric beats—"Akshon,""Creep Show"—very much his own without straying too far fromthe hip-hop purism that he's clearly an acolyte of.

And don't forget Mike the lady-Killer. "Sex, Drugs, Rap & Roll"is as raunchy as anything put out by a less conscious rapper this year. Buton "A.D.I.D.A.S. (All Day I Dream About Sex)," Mike combines the twosides, first trading barbs with Big Boi about the better half of the betterhalf, then launching into a safe sex tirade that's clever enough to openthe stubbornest of minds. Knowledge is born, after all.