The Course Of The Inevitable

Whether taken as Lloyd Banks first proper album in over a decade or his first full-length since 2018 -- both views are accurate -- The Course of the Inevitable is a conspicuous return, the reclamation of a lane the rapper started to navigate with proficiency in the early 2000s. Banks sounds like hes unloading these mostly top-grade rhymes of street knowledge as if he was stockpiling, waiting for the right moment to unload them in the form of this absorbing (if overlong) set. Consecutive tracks with appearances from Freddie Gibbs, Roc Marciano, and Benny the Butcher almost put too fine a point on Banks assertion of relevance. Relevant he is, evidenced by the easy way he matches wits with his higher-profile guests, and by the immediately following cut, Death by Design, an all-Banks standout that hits even harder. While hardly low-fidelity, Banks voice has a slightly displaced quality, as if hes calling the shots from a location of self-exile. ~ Andy Kellman