With his major label debut, Marrero rapper Baby Boy the Prince finds himself in the conundrum of being gritty for the New Orleans hip-hop scene, while trying to tailor a project to earn mass appeal. The highs and lows of the album come at the hands of Baby Boy’s ability, and inability to give both audiences a steady bounce.

The last song on the album, “Rose,” is the all-around best, from production, to lyrics, to emotions. Baby Boy raps about personal relationships and shows strong storytelling ability on the final verse, where he cries over piano keys and a punctuating bass: “I wish you could see me do it / I’m still wild’n out, but now I’m making music… I wish you would have been somewhere else that night / ’cause your uncle wouldn’t have shot you / he wouldn’t have took your life.”

Baby Boy has the ability to appeal to a mass audience with a strong voice that he can tone down to please the female crowd. It’s an avenue that is currently opening in hip-hop, and he seems to know that. On “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,” Baby Boy channels the hearts of fellow emotional rappers LL Cool J, Nelly, and Ja Rule, by practically singing about courting a female, and eventually proposing to her in a three-day relationship. But by the time he gets to “They Don’t Know,” Baby Boy has run the tear-jerking well dry.

He proves his potential in club bangers “The Way I Live,” and “Naw Meen,” but falters on other tracks because his free styling chops aren’t what they should be. On “Rollin to Det,” which could be a faster version of “The Way I Live,” Baby Boy raps, “I’m rolling like a dog / (expletive), I’m rolling like a (expletive) ball.”

On Across the Water, Baby Boy lives up to his stage name as he stumbles when he is let out in the yard to play—when free styling—but when he has the guidance of a solid concept he shows potential.