It’s hard to believe this mixtape comes just nine months after Chillinit’s second LP, The Octagon. Sure, the Hurstville rapper’s favourite topics—sex, drugs, family, success, excess—are, as ever, at its core. But his delivery is stronger, his beats are more interesting, and his rhymes are smarter and funnier than ever. Rappers like Lil Wayne and Eminem found their niche in delivering explicit rhymes in such clever and comedic ways it almost negates their offensiveness, and while Chillinit’s biggest influence, as he repeatedly references, is 2Pac, his best moments feel more Weezy than Makaveli. Like The Octagon, only better, Full Circle matches understated beats, piano hooks and bouncy throwback grooves with his gritty, aggressive tone. His references are fun to piece together, a NSFW pop culture puzzle drawing on everything from Jason Statham and King of the Hill to Frank Sinatra, Schapelle Corby and Michael Schumacher in a single song (“Stand For”, featuring Kiwi-Aussie rapper Lisi). “Legendary”, which rides on a jazzy A Tribe Called Quest-style beat, takes listeners through a “hip-hop history lesson”, with Chill talking through four decades of his hip-hop icons, including classic Aussie names like Hilltop Hoods and Horrorshow, and a brief, funny interlude insulting the controversial 6ix9ine. And between the partying and women and money, he’s also more comfortable opening up about his inner demons and personal truths. “I deal with emotions hard, and that’s probably why I swallow these drugs and bottle it up and count on my brotherly love… I’m gonna burn blunts until this pain goes, and I’m gonna hunt for the rainbow,” he says, speaking directly to his mother, on “On Hold”. And on final track “Dark and the Light”, he admits: “I don’t want shit no more, I don’t want the fortune and fame/All this money come with suffering and torture and pain.”