Diamond in the Ruff

Ever since detaching from Roc-A-Fella, the Philadelphia rapper has felt a bit like a town crier with no square. On his fourth album, his first for Babygrande, he positions himself as a reliable alternative to the mainstream.

If you rewound back to the mid-2000s when Roc-A-Fella Records was king, you'd probably be surprised if someone surveyed the label's landscape and concluded...