Commercially, what's breaking news is "High Lights," the track on which Leimert Park's signature MC harvests a magnetizing herb anthem, finally. Even beyond "High Lights," "Magnificent City" reveals--across multiple listenings--the spoken-word flavor of a mature MC.

Acey's vocals customarily show he's come to feel things other than horniness and revenge. There needs to be more of this. And as much as Aceyalone [ tickets ] sounding fresh and excited invigorates his rhyming, producer Rjd2's funky, breathing, gleaming universe of sounds gives the album enormous sonic depth. The urbane nature of RJD2's beats feel geared to the rapper's flow better than maybe even Aceyalone knows.

A Freestyle Fellowship [ tickets ] original, the vocal presence of "Magnificent City" stands in a place where Boring Old MCs Disease is known to pose a risk. (Remember, this MC stepped into the game with artists like Nas and Mobb Deep.) Aceyalone holds down the album--his sixth--without a gang of guest support crew and even bests the heavies when it comes to that emotional range. His voice always feels incalculable in its human specificity, his emotion feels genuine. And every "Magnificent City" song feels full of ideas.

Acey still sounds somewhat aloof from the microphone, an effect that turns on songs like "High Lights" but hurts him badly on animation-starved misfires like "Solomon Jones." At least there's an MC out there trying, and batting for a remarkably high average. "Moore," a slow, trippy journey hand-in-hand with Rjd2, and "Supahero," terrific hip-hop, in the vein of Outkast's "Hey Ya" or Trick Daddy's "Sugar," only with more remorse, are special productions.