It’s still not time for the follow up to The Death Of the Frequent Flyer, but once again Psalm One is tiding us over with a mixtape that is better than 90% of hip hop albums out right now. Last summer, we got the stellar Woman @ Work series. This year, we get a continuation of the Get in the Van series. The first two volumes were made over five years ago as a way to get everyone excited about her tour. This volume picks up right where the first two left off, ramping up anticipation for Psalm One’s new album and tour.

Get in the Van follows the high standard that Psalm set with Woman @ Work, covering a lot of different musical styles and including some of the smartest rhymes put out this year. Things kick off with a Brandon Allday remix of “Better Than My Last,” originally on Woman @ Work. It’s a great reinvention of the song with a slightly menacing guitar line that compliments the swagger of Psalm’s rhymes. “Get in the Van Intro” has her taking over a gangsta beat, while “Need Love Too” sounds a little like a Kanye beat, with the sped-up soul sample and mid tempo shuffle. Other songs side West Coast, while others sound like dancehall, but Psalm ties everything together well.

Lyrically, Psalm One is dropping lines that are both thought provoking and incredibly personal. She discusses her love life, feelings about being classified as a female emcee, getting drunk and high, the record industry, wack emcees, race and gender relations, body image and diet…it’s all there. Mixing this in with sharp lines that keep me exclaiming “Oh shit!” and her ability to switch up pacing and rhyme schemes, and it’s easy to see why Psalm One has been one of my favorite emcees for years. Few could drop a prayer like Psalm does at the end of “I’m My Favorite” and get away with it, but Psalm is so skilled that when she says, “Lord, whoever you are, please give these emcees who just happen to have inward genitalia the strength to rock with fire, the rules to being sexy, and the wisdom to understand they could never fuck with me…Amen,” you just have to accept it.

There are a few guests that pop up on the mix, with my favorite verse coming from Del on “Hermit With a Permit,” which is a great pairing of two emcees who can light up a funky party jam. Ang 13 is a close second, though, a Chicago emcee who makes her presence known on “Minutes.” I will definitely have to get to know her music better.

My expectations used to be that mixtapes were decent, long-running one track mixes that you’d have to listen to all the way through to find a couple of killer verses that would last for about thirty seconds and then it would be gone. Thankfully, things have changed, and thanks to the work of artists like Psalm One, the mix tape isn’t just a time filler. This is a quality release from one of the best emcees in the game today.