It is difficult to take any MC seriously when he threatens to retire his microphone. Too $hort intended to quit in 1996, only to return three years later with the fittingly titled Can’t Stay Away. Jay-Z didn’t manage much longer, with his highly publicized retirement instead transpiring as a brief sabbatical. After twenty years of garnering Platinum plaques and 5 Mic plaudits, Scarface is the latest Hip-Hop artist to suggest he is turning his back on the music industry. With intentions of bowing out made public, ‘Face offers Emeritus. Morose yet triumphant, the LP makes it difficult to dispute the notion that the Houston veteran is prepared to fade to black.

The main reason that Emeritus seems so final is because it highlights how little Uncle ‘Face has left to prove. On the joyfully competitive posse cut ‘Forgot About Me,’ for example, esteemed guests Bun B and Lil Wayne join the enlivened Geto Boy. Although Bun is considered the people’s champion of Hip-Hop and Wayne deems himself the Best Rapper Alive, it is Scar that shines brightest over Cool & Dre’s enigmatic score. Delivering his lyrics with an assuredness embedded after years of experience, he boasts, ‘I done sold so many records, I changed my name to life.’

While the album’s guests are few, our host remains the centre of attention whenever assisted on wax. Bilal offers an impassioned croon on the melancholic ‘Can’t Get Right,’ a snug foil to producer Nottz’s soulful plinks and crisp drums. Scarface’s politically charged raps, however, ring truest. Attacking the Bush administration, ‘Face is unabashed when he proclaims that W., ‘Waged war against the religious for oil – don’t lie.’ As the beat recedes, the album’s creator offers a glimpse of vulnerability when he admits to being, ‘On my hands and knees, praying.’ The similarly candid ‘Still Here’ features a reflective MC documenting the struggle of life in his environment. Abandoning confident metaphors and violent wordplay, ‘Face instead vows to, ‘Walk through the hood, try and talk to the hood.’

Scarface is strongest when showcasing his versatility through such poignant tracks. Unfortunately, he cannot resist detailing his street credibility on the psychotic ‘Redemption Song.’ A rattling backdrop is punctured by brooding, repetitive piano chords: made all the less interesting by the verses the MC lays atop it. He forces generic snarls like, ‘Too hard to kill and I refuse to die,’ in an attempt to fit such excruciatingly dark production.

Such confrontational bars are more affecting on the jangled ‘Unexpected.’ Here, the Rap-A-Lot MVP efficiently stresses that he is not ‘threatening,’ but ‘making promises.’ The title track, though, balances the tough talk and revealing insights best. Flowing impeccably over a beat fuelled by shuddering percussion, the veteran spews at critics, ‘Suck my dick for disrespecting the great.’ Scar concludes the album with a similarly outspoken – and compelling – rant that reveals that he ‘came up’ on iconic groups like N.W.A. Final words of wisdom are then targeted at rap’s current generation, as he brashly asserts, ‘Bitch, you came up on me!’

Once the disjointed horns and formal Maring drums of the album’s closing ‘Outro’ hush, the listener is left with the odd sensation of having to say goodbye to a pivotal figure in Hip-Hop: Emeritus concludes Scarface’s tenure as one of the genre’s favorite artists actively recording. It’s a depressing thought, yet this is an album that stands proudly among an already hugely influential back catalogue. Listeners were correct to suspect that Jay-Z and Too $hort would return to making music – their supposed finales didn’t match their best work. Scarface, on the other hand, would be well advised to exit on such a high.

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