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So fine, Black Milk stan reviews Black Milk’s second solo release, loves it, gives it a 5 and tells everyone to buy it twice just in case. Unfortunately though, Tronic is probably one of the weakest releases to come out of Detriot this year. Its almost a shock to listen to the album for the first time and realise that the opening five beats are largely forgettable, and that you have to wait so long for a true Detriot banger. The opening tracks aren’t exactly bad, and its nice to see Black moving further out his comfort zone with the 80’s electro feel of Bounce and Hold It Down, and the use of live instruments on Give The Drummer Sum. However, the former tracks sound like Kanye West Graduation era cast offs, the latter’s beat with the chipmuck vocals and trumpet crescendo sounds cluttered and over the top while Without U comes off as vaguely generic R’n'B. The more epic, piano sampled and string driven Long Short Story is more successful, especially with Black sounding vocally so energetic.

However, its only when Black moves back into familiar territory does Tronic kick off proper. Losing Out is as pure a Black Milk beat your ever going to hear, filled with soul, an unbelievable vigour and the hardest of drums, the only gripe being Black’s mimicking of Royce’s flow. Hell Yeah and its grimy abrasive vibe would have fitted in perfectly on Fat Ray/Black Milk’s The Set Up while The Matrix is one of this year’s finest, the perfect beat for the the likes of P Monch to destroy and accompanied by some typically nice cuts by Premo on the hook. What follows is almost Black in laidback mode, beats he probably churns out in his sleep - Tronic Summer, which is left to breath and bereft of verses is some head nodding goodness, while Try and Bond 4 Life add some much needed soul into the LP.

Maybe the fact that The Matrix is the finest moment of the album hints at its main flaw - Black Milk as a vocalist. There is little doubt that he has improved signifcanlty, even from his debut Popular Demand, as an MC and lyricist. The cringeworthy punchlines are laregly gone, replaced by all round tighter lyrics but you struggle to get a real sense of personailty from the vocals, an idea of who Black Milk is or what he is about in an way that you get with his production. Put simply, he isn’t, and never will be, as clever or imaginative as lyricist as Elzhi is, nor will he have a flow as distincitve as Royce or Monch. Nothing wrong with that as such, but most listeners need to have more then just dope beats to stay interested. Maybe Tronic would have worked better if Black Milk accepted his limitations as an MC, kept his verses to the minimum, brought in more top class MCs (and he has worked with shitloads of them) or made more tracks purely instrumental.