Psalm One

Psalm One's The Death of Frequent Flyer is an uneven but compelling mix of pure rhyme skills and casual songwriting. One of the best songs on the 14-track disc is "Rapper Girls," a souled-out attack on untalented female MCs that wraps around Psalm One's chorus, "This is for my rapper girls/Cut it out/Cut that shit out." The other, "Macaroni and Cheese," is more abstract as she rhymes, "Call me erector set I set up shop/It's time to wreck yes you best check your watch" over a funk-blues beat. That leaves 12 more songs marked by sharp punch lines, a liquid flow, and a frustrating tendency to slur her words. Whether those qualities sound inviting depends on your estimation of an underground hip-hop scene that, for all its strengths, yields more shit-talking rappers than good songwriters. Psalm One does her best with cuts like "The Nine," a remembrance about riding the bus; and "Sworn Habit," a battle track partly built around drug metaphors. She's ambitious, and on The Death of Frequent Flyerher hard work sometimes even pays off.