Prof is a Twin Cities emcee who has been putting out music for over ten years now. He signed to Rhymesayers back in 2013, releasing his debut album for the label, Liability, in 2015. He now comes back with his second effort for the label with Pookie Baby.

There’s nobody more divisive on the Rhymesayers label or in the Minneapolis hip hop than Prof. Why? Because Prof is an over-the-top “bad boy” character that some people can’t stand, and other’s find entertaining. For me, I understand the entertaining side of it, but I’ve never bought into it. Prof is a charismatic guy, and it’s clear that he flew buy on charm for a large part of his younger life. He doesn’t carry himself as someone who’s faced a lot of consequences for his actions. Now, there are some people that will defend him and say it’s all an act, but at this point in his career, I don’t know how much that matters any more. Pookie Baby has great production, and it’s clear that this album was composed with summer music festivals in mind, with big hooks and big beats provided by Charley Cooks, Curtis King, Curtiss King, DNAE Beats, Jordy Bangs & others. What I find interesting and especially frustrating about this album is the way it’s being packaged by Rhymesayers, which is as his sophisticated, intimate album, one that was born out of his recuperation period after he was laid up by injuries sustained on the road. I’m here for that album in theory, but in practice, this is the same old shit he’s been producing his entire career. On the title track, which opens the album, we get the hook of “I’m selfish baby, it’s good for my health/Like why would I buy sex when it sells itself? Like why would I buy ice when I know it melts? Over hot coals, see for yourself,” which finds that sweet spot between stupid nonsense and a bonus insensitivity to sex workers. Like, for one, if sex sells itself, that’s an argument for not paying to advertise it, not against buying it. And secondly, the attempted simile to not buying ice because it melts doesn’t make any sense at all, and who in the world is putting ice over hot coals? Finally, see for myself? Who is doubting that ice melts? This terrible lyricism continues throughout the album, where Prof always manages to walk the line between nonsense that sounds entertaining and sexist and selfish lyrics that are supposed to be funny because he doesn’t actually mean them. When you’ve been playing the part of class clown and bad boy for this long though, it’s hard to turn it off.

If this is a “departure” album for Prof, there’s no hope that he’ll ever make an album worth listening to. And why would he, when he can put on big glasses and a gold chain, rock an ironic mustache, and rhyme nonsense about drugs and women, and he keeps getting away with it? I would love it if he got held to a higher standard.