Murder For Hire 2

Just four months after the bracing, confessional Islah, Kevin Gates returns. The Lousiana rapper’s specialty is his honesty: often complicated, sometimes ugly, but always cathartic. So much so that even his boasts end up becoming onramps for less comfortable truths: “Getting 50 Gs a feature, my show price is goin’ up/Hard to deal with this depression lately, I’ve been throwin’ up,” he raps on “Off Da Meter.” It’s a self-portrait of a rising star in unflinching detail.