Holla folks on Sixshot.com! Your boy is Emm is back, and I’ve got one long-awaited record in my pocket: G-Unit’s first second soldier (after 50 Cent), Lloyd Banks, has got “The Hunger for More” and prepares to get exactly that with his debut solo album. Supported by none other than the whole G-Unit crew and co. (50, Yayo (who came straight outta jail to the booth), Game and Eminem) and some popular other guests (Snoop & Nate Dogg,), “The Hunger for More” is (even) more than I expected.

I always thought that Banks is nice. No more, no less though. I could never imagine how this guy can hold it down through a whole solo effort without getting beaten by the Memph Bleek phenomenon: Being good at features, but not able to satisfy over a whole record. “The Hunger For More” proves me wrong: He can be gangsta and introspective, he can represent and hold it down for the ladies. “Ain’t no click” featuring Tony Yayo and a tight production by Havoc opens the record and leads to the weakes track in my ears: “Playboy” has a nervous beat that doesn’t fit with my personal rhythm. “Warrior”, however, takes the album back to where it belongs: the good side of rap, even though might be a little bit boring. “On Fire” kicks asses no doubt. “I Get High” featuring 50 and Snoop and a slow Hi-Tek production? A smoker’s anthem, and especially Banks and Snoop spit funny lyrics. “I’m So Fly” is one of the best tracks on this album: Perfect hook, great production by Timbaland, and Banks profits from his complacent niceness and spits fire. Young Bucks comes decently on “Work Magic”, a rough track that might be sounding out of cars’ windows in a hood near you, “Karma” is for the ladies (but still gangsta lyricswise) and the Game shows on “When the Chips are Down” that he’s no worse than the rest of his crew. “The Hunger For More” gets rounded off with a perfect, slightly melancholy produced track called “South Side Story”, where Lloyds goes deeper and tells us that “in the streets of New York / You can’t trust nobody!”

“The Hunger for More” is no classic, no doubt, but it’s a well-entertaining and well-rounded album that proves Lloyd Banks’abilities on the mic and his variety of skills. If you buy “The Hunger for More”, you definitely gotta like all the G-g-g-g-g-g-Unit albums, ‘cause Banks stays true to the Gorilla unit’s roots. Still, “The Hunger for More” is well-mature and a good buy for everyone else.