It’s not the blasted urban hellscape that Detroit is (yet), but there’s no reason a city as relentlessly ethnic as NOLA can’t produce its own Great White Rapper—anyone who names himself like a Twitter handle has the right attitude, and it helps that his flow is a lot like Em’s, mixed with a little Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 and a stylistic nod or three to Del tha Funkee Homosapien. He’s the jokester with the social consciousness, in other words, and the battle rapper without the woman issues. The production by CZA of Crescent Kingz is perfect, too, hard but just blunted and pop-culture jokey enough to accurately reflect what Harn is up to lyrically.

The jokes on us, though—Solo’s style is not so much light-hearted as light-headed, weak rhymes delivered rather offhandedly: “A rude dude, hard to figure like a Rubik’s cube.” “It seems that I’m getting cleaner and my flow is getting meaner.” “A magician so untraditional, I’m one creative individual.” If you’re gonna sample Marvin Gaye and name-drop Nas, you gotta come harder than this. If you’re gonna cross racial barriers in 2014, battle raps are not enough. And if you’re gonna spend six albums aping Slim Shady, you better bring a personality.