Choclair became renowned as the first Canadian hip-hop artist signed to a major US label (Virgin). Now, four years later, he's returned to his indie roots by releasing Flagrant on his own label, Greenhouse Music. Flagrant successfully provides the skeleton for a smash hit album as it's laced with glitteringly funkdafied production at the hands of his circle friends, Saukrates, Solitair, Kardinal and Ro Dolla. Unfortunately Flagrant lacks the lyrical glue, muscle and flesh capable of making a monster out of a perfectly constructed skeleton.

The first single, 'Back Where I've Stayed' is about as deep as Choclair gets with his lyrical content. The catchy song compares and contrasts his teenage struggles to his current success. Beyond this song Choclair opts to rap about little more than his label, drinking, cars and girls while choosing to rely on the hot party-vibe provided by the beats. Not uncommon to the hip-hop genre, some rappers (like Fabolous) pull it off quite smoothly relying on their flow, unfortunately Choclair falters. 'Skyline' shows potential with the first half of the chorus "I'm a get it my way / that's all I wanna do / I'm reaching for the skyline / where dreams come true", but tends to disappoint when I discovered on the second half of the chorus that Choclair's dreams consist of partying: "if you came here to party / that's all I wanna do."

Flagrant succeeds in providing some mindlessly hot party joints. 'All I Need in this World is You' is a blazingly successful spin-off of one of my favorite songs: Method Man & Mary J. Blige's 'All I Need.' The Kardinal produced 'Glistenin' switches speeds complementing Choclair flows quite well as the "hey, hey" from the chorus will draw you in. 'Whatchu Go'n Do' provides a fun bouncy summer-time feel. 'Hot This Year' and 'Tell Em' also impress, but sound awful similar to a recycled Redman hit.

Until I sat down and listened to what Choclair had to say on Flagrant, this album had all the makings of an amazing album. Unfortunately his lyrical content often lacked cohesion and depth, leaving me craving some real content. Choclair's Flagrant is an amazing party album, but doesn't make for much of a thinker.

Click here to buy the album at amazon.com