Perhaps the most fearsome figure to come out of Gary, Indiana, since Joe Jackson, Freddie Gibbs is a former-freight-train-robber-turned-hardcore-rap-revivalist. He's also poised to become hip-hop's next big thing, having generated serious heat with mixtapes like this 15-track powder keg. Gibbs is a technically gifted MC with a baritone voice and steely flow that suggests a more nimble 50 Cent, and on Str8 Killa he maintains his iron-man mien so thoroughly it's sometimes tough to tell if he's having any fun. But when he jacks the beat to Masta Killa's 'Born 2 Roll' or glides through tongue-twisting rhymes on the Dirty South-style 'In My Hood,' he sounds str8 masterful.