Artson

Artson enters the game with a pedigree: He was a member of the legendary Rocksteady Crew, and his record boasts guest shots by Tash of Tha Alkaholiks, and Likwit Junkie Wildchild. And on a first pass, he passes muster. The production on songs like the album-opening “Who” and the quasi-Latin “Still Shining” is clean and agile, and Artson himself is gifted with a smooth, liquid flow. On closer inspection, though, it all starts to buckle. “Coast to Coast” hews too closely to an electric guitar hook, and “Everyday Hustle” revives the hook from Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People” for yet another go-round. The rhymes, though certainly serviceable, are too frequently pedestrian and workmanlike. Save the World, Part 2 does Artson’s history no shame, but does little to promise a bankable future.