A couple of years ago, Leon Chavis learned how to make an album while recording his debut disc, The Heat Is On. This time, he learned how to write an album, one that offers an honest, autobiographical portal into the life of an artist. Songs chronicle adversity, love and commitment, dreams and the joys of fatherhood. “Holla @ Me” may seem like a shameless self-promotion plug at first, but subsequent listens portray Chavis as the approachable individual who’s blessed with an affable, down-to-earth personality. Towards the song’s end, the pace steps up and Chavis’ rhythmic rapping injects another bolt of energy into an arrangement that already has a cool, rhythmic cadence.

The album isn’t all about domesticity, though. The dance record with the unfaltering, kicking rhythm section of Derrick Woods and Eric Singleton often finds Chavis getting his drink on in the club, scoping out the—ahem—possibilities and giving final reports on none. Of this lot, “Do Your Thang Girl” is the hottest, mainly because it jams the hardest.

When it’s time to call it a night, it’s not zydeco that signals the curtain call but an earthquaking hip-hop title track remix featuring Chavis and guest Chris Ardoin. Oddly, the vocal special effects make it sound Middle Eastern. If the local zydeco market should ever crash, Chavis may find a second calling cutting hip-hop records with an international flair; until then, zydeco will hold him just fine.