Boaz always keeps his pulse at cool, sounding just as comfortable on the southern-friendly radio tunes and New York-flavored album cuts. An airy electronic beat backs his turn as a suave drug dealer on songs like "Well Connected" and "H-U-S-T-L-E-R." And while he's more threatening at times, Boaz is equally heavy-on-bravado trading barbs with Sheek Louch for "Larimer to Yonkers." The crashing beat gets a hard-nosed verse from Sheek while Boaz stays hood and says, "I ain't waiting for royalties to pay for my lawyer fees / I break down a couple things and sell them in quarter keys / 'Cause the block is just open season / The feds taking pictures of us, so we cheesin."

Grounded in hood chronicles, the lyrical content of Audio Biography is not as diverse as its production. Based on the general theme of most songs, Boaz's bio can be condensed to cold nights peddling drugs and the warmth that being a snow salesman provides. It's a story that has been told several times before by more captivating artists, but a small set of talented producers provide a distinct angle for this retelling. Production duo SoulStarZmuseeQ supply everything from high-pitched, space-age synths ("Gettin' Mine") to blaxploitation funk ("The Dopeman"). King James II then adds to the mix by delivering a soul-inspired beat for the reflective "Promised Land." That musical range is a crucial asset, providing the strong match necessary to make this well-traveled path seem new.

Pittsburgh created Boaz, and he attempts to return the favor by crafting a sound representative of his hometown. But the Steel City rapper is still defining himself as a man on Audio Biography. After all, the tragic tale of a hustler is to struggle, prosper, and walk away or ultimately fail. Boaz is in the prosper phase and showing signs of his next move on "Promised Land" when he raps, "I'm still religious/And instead of tearing down the ghetto block, I should be building bridges."

Audio Biography is thus an early, unfinished memoir. There's still plenty of time for Boaz to determine which ending of the hustler's script he'll follow. If he continues penning strong lines and tapping into talented production resources, failure - at least from a musical standpoint - seems highly unlikely.