Lloyd Banks - Hands Up (Featuring 50 Cent)
[Polydor]

Hands Up is one of the best mainstream hip hop tracks of the year, but what else would you expect from a co-founder of hip hop collective G-Unit? Slickly produced by Eminem and made even more solid by a cameo appearance from 50 Cent, the track is nothing short of perfect.

The pounding beats are driven out with brute force, over programmed basslines and sinister strings, while Banks himself is on top form, complete with lightning speed hooks and lyrics about commercial success and fame.

He delivers lines like "I'm rap star, who wants to be riding around in that car - two in the front, in the back got a plasma", and the cocksure confidence of "I'm soakin' it all up, while your girl suckin' me. It means the world to her - It's nothing but a nut to me."

The originality of Lloyd Banks and G-Unit is often question by true hip hop heads, but when you've hit upon the right formula why change. The track is lyrically tight, the production is first grade and the tune itself is stupidly infectious. Hands Up? More like the hands down winner for single of the month.