Like a hip-hop fairytale, underground emcee Jin took BET’s "106 & Park" by storm when he reigned as the undefeated “Freestyle Friday” battle rhyme champion for seven weeks until he was retired from the show. On his last day, he was crowned a member of the popular Ruff Ryder record label.

But after a disappointing and highly anticipated debut album, “The Rest is History,” it seemed as if the Asian sensation himself was history after he dropped from the face of hip-hop completely. Every fairytale has an ugly stepsister, and Jin’s was a shady record deal.

The truth is, he’s been on the grind hustling his new independently released album, “Jin Presents: The Emcee’s Properganda.” Following in the footsteps of legendary rapper Jay-Z, a.k.a. Sean Carter, Jin retired from the rap game only to come back under a new alias, “The Emcee.”

Unlike his first album, which many deemed too mainstream for Jin, The Emcee takes it back to the basics and keeps things nice and gritty. In track four, “Mr. Popular,” he laces the Golden Child-produced track with raw lines like, “Give me 15 minutes, an L and a knoc’ to track, I’ll stroll in the booth and bring hip-hop back.” In track five, “My First Time,” the listener is lead to believe he’s rapping about his first sexual experience. But in a sudden twist, fans discover he is really talking about an experience just as personal—the first time he wrote a rhyme. And with lines like, “Wish I had the budget to get up with Just Blaze, probably cost a couple grand just to use the phrase,” from track nine, “G.O.L.D.E.N.,” it’s evident The Emcee is still on point lyrically.

Unfortunately, The Emcee is no Jay-Z.

While his lyrics are above average, his delivery could use the help of a fairy godmother. Some songs are just bland. In a failed attempt to do something unique in the song “No Concept,” his lack of enthusiasm makes it plain and pointless. And in “Properganda,” The Emcee sounds a bit contradictory; he stresses that he doesn’t like to label himself as either an underground or conventional artist, yet almost his entire album is raging against the mainstream machine.

The Emcee does deserve some props for clarifying his momentary hiatus and reminding us why he was recognized to begin with. But he should have released this album from the get-go. Furthermore, countless rappers have already talked about how record labels like to take advantage of their artists, so tell us something new.

Though The Emcee continues to rip mics with his freestyles, it doesn’t take Russell Simmons to know you need more than witty metaphors and hard punch lines to sell a record.