Just like in jazz, hip-hop is all about flow. And like jazz in its heyday, rap demands that you be able to demonstrate both your flow and your competition’s. Local artist Choppa has that ability in spades: in the course of this debut CD, he throws out a bit of St. Lou Nelly-style singsong (“Thugged Out,”) some classic Cash Money dance calls (the remix of “Hop In The Circle”), and some drop-it-like-it’s-hot Juvenilia (“Ohh Girl”). And he’s got control of all of it, vocally strong enough to come across hard and yet able to pledge his fidelity like a real loverman on the R&B confection “You’re The One.”

The production’s just as eager to please, which both works for and against Choppa: it allows him to display a myriad of styles, but it panders so much that you start to feel like you’ve been cruising around this block before. The JMK Remix of “Choppa Style” practically quotes 20 years of hip-hop in the intro, the hit “Wobble For Me” uses the melody from Mark Morrison’s “Return Of The Mack” to no real effect, and he drops two “Drag Rap” bounce beats in a row in the middle of the album (“I Came To Represent” and “Tic With It”). And “One Mo’ Chance” is probably going to win some kind of award for being the millionth track to sample the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.” Choppa has the voice and flow to be a real player, but if he doesn’t stop imitating and start innovating, he’s gonna get left behind in the ever-changing rap game. However, if all you want is a strong collection of local beats (with a little strange thrown in), this’ll do fine.