

On his fifth album, released while he was in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Lil Boosie raps like his life's on the line—because it is. Boosie has called his style “reality rap,” but Incarcerated sometimes feels more like the blues. On the spacy, paranoid “Betrayed,” he battles his trust issues, while “The Rain” is a pained memorial of loss and struggle. Best is “Devils,” where Boosie unflinchingly addresses his judge over a NOLA bounce beat, snarling in his Baton Rouge drawl: “I refuse to be a victim.”