Let's be honest, the Diplomat's are not known for their complex lyrical content; you'd properly hear 5 years olds with better structure in their rhymes. Even Juelz Santana's debut effort Come Home with Me, proved this by exposing the world to a musical nightmare with Dipset (Santana's Town). That said there is no arguing that the streets absolutely love them and luckily, we are finally (hurrah!) beginning to see Cam'ron's protégé depart from the Diplomat's nursery rhyme style of rap and come into his own with a slightly more mature approach to his flow.

What the Games Been Missing with its 21 tracks displays a variety of ideas but still holds true to repping Harlem's hustler, 'get that paper' mentality.

Santana obviously aware of the continuous dancehall crossover success, gets Sizzla to lay vocals on one of the albums highlights, Shottas and stays on that vibe, by sampling, maybe a little too soon, Damien Marley's Welcome To Jamrock on Murda Murda with the aid of Cam' Ron to uphold the Dipset signature sound.

What really demonstrates Santana's change in style is his ability in straightforward storytelling on Lil Boy Fresh about a young hustler's masterful takeover plan of the drug game. Even with all that crack cooking, Juelz still has time for the lay-dees with club-banger, There It Go (The Whistle Song) and as if in a purple haze, the soulful Good Times reveals that there was a time when life was about '…walking through them good old streets/New MJs on your good old feet remember that good old chain you used to wear / You didn't know if it was fake/you didn't care.'

So is Juelz what hip hop's been missing? Well, despite the abundance of repeated words, what he is coming with is undoubtedly different with improved lyrical aptitude, and now radio appeal. Guess you could say your boy is back!

Maxine Headley.