Earlier this year, local MC Paul Athoe dropped his debut, Come Together, a strong opening salvo that immediately established him as one of the better young rappers on the Buffalo scene. Now, just seven months later, he's back with 1988, an impressive mixtape which flaunts his serious skills as an MC. If you weren't paying attention to him before, now would be a good time to start.

If Come Together primarily served as a means of illustrating Athoe's chops as an MC, 1988 gives us a bit more inside information about who he really is. Named after his birth year, it's a suitably personal album, as Athoe discusses his experience finding a voice as an MC, and working to separate himself from the pack.

A common theme on this album is Athoe's dissatisfaction with trends in modern hip-hop, namely that rappers are often detached from reality, and spend too much time discussing their wealth, or their sexual exploits rather than tackling serious issues (basically, the same problems with the genre that Lorde discusses on her smash hit "Royals"). This theme is at its most prevalent on the bluntly titled "That Ain't Hip Hop," but it re-occurs throughout the album.

There are no weak tracks, but the standouts would be "Poison," the best showcase of Athoe's flow we've seen yet, and "Glass Elevator," which rides are groove jazz-influenced beat while referencing Nas' immortal "One Mic." Later in the album, "She" makes an excellent use of a hypnotic, Eastern-influenced beat, one of many strong beats on an extremely well-produced record.

Paul Athoe is going places, and 1988 should get him a lot of attention within the hip-hop community. On this album, he's made it clear than he means business. On one track, he goes as far as to declare himself as the Michael Jordan of Buffalo's hip-hop scene, and daring anyone to challenge him (essentially a Buffalo-centric version of Kendrick Lamar's epic diss verse). It will be interesting to see who will challenge Athoe's he's one of the best rappers the Queen City has to offer.