Best known for his work on Kanye's first two albums (where he guested on "Spaceship" and "Drive Slow"), GLC is an unusual rapper — born and raised in Chicago but sounding like he's from Houston or Port Arthur. He's released a gang of mixtapes and collabo'd with everyone from Jay-Z to Paul Wall to R. Kelly, but had yet to put out an official album, until now. Love, Life & Loyalty includes one older track you may have heard before ("Flight School" with Kanye and T-Pain), but it's mostly new material, pairing him with several other Chi-Town MCs such as Twista ("Cold As Ice"), Bump J ("The Big Knot"), and BJ The Chicago Kid on the excellent "So Real." GLC's verses are solid throughout, the production is a varied mix of midwest, Dirty South, and East Coast styles, and he also shares the mic with John Legend, Bun B, and Sir Mix-A-Lot.