Blessed with a voice that could set off car alarms with its rattle and hum, Lloyd Banks has a well-defined role in 50 Cent’s crew. Opposite 50’s effortless menace and Tony Yayo and Young Buck’s animated antics, Banks is the icy sociopath — a composer of hilariously ruthless rhymes (“Fuck if your favorite rapper dies, to me that’s my spot/I celebrate his burial and eat at IHOP,” goes one mix-tape couplet) who lauds firearms and kicks pickup lines with the same detached delivery. While many rappers would use their solo debut to reveal depth or even tenderness, the 21-year-old MC generally sticks to hardened stoicism. Mostly, his punch lines pack enough power to sustain this man-without-feelings persona. The kinetic fury of “Playboy” weds his choppily dropped verses (“Come take a look inside an entertainer’s closet/I never trust a bitch/I blame Lorena Bobbitt”) with shrill strings and a stop-start rhythm.

Similarly, his threats on “Bangers” are perfectly complemented by producer Alchemist’s haunted-house organ. And on the dramatic, Eminem-produced “Warrior” remix, Eminem, 50 Cent and Nate Dogg all share the alpha-male fun.

But while Banks’s wicked wordplay is impressive, his one-liners get him only so far. Odes to success (the club-friendly single “On Fire”; the frivolous “I’m So Fly”), sexual conquests (“Karma”) and wanksta-hate (“If You So Gangsta”) are lavish with 50-style sing-songy hooks but lack his mentor’s charisma; we never gain insight into what makes this tough guy tick.Banks’s impenetrable exterior would benefit from a little more introspection like “Die One Day,” a soulful examination of mortality. For a fleeting second, he yanks off the mask and humanizes the superthug stance.

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