Last year, Royce Da 5’9 released perhaps the strongest mixtape of the year, teaming with DJ Premier and Statik Selektah for The Bar Exam. Here, Royce righted all wrongs, once again reinventing himself after a short jail stint and the disappointing response to his third LP, Independence Day. Reunited with DJ Premier, who helped craft his classic break-out single “Boom”, The Bar Exam was armed with a series of new classics such as “Ding” and “Hit ‘Em”, as well as freestyling over classic Preemo tracks from Nas and Jay-Z.

This holiday season we get a double dose from Royce in the form of The Bar Exam 2, which has been released in two versions – the mixtape and the album. The mixtape version was released as a free downloadable mix earlier this year, with DJ Green Lantern taking over for Statik Selektah, while The Album version was released to retail, unmixed and Ipod friendly. But upon closer examination, while these two projects share the same cover – minus a few different font arrangements – these are two different albums entirely.

The Bar Exam 2: The Mixtape, is easily the better of the two, and not just because it is free. First off, the addition of DJ Green Lantern mixing the project , which in his usual fashion, adds a momentum to it that the album does not carry. This is in part owed to the fact that the project is loaded with exclusive freestyles over familiar beats, many of which outshine their original counterparts. On “It’s The New”, Royce absolutely murder’s T.I.’s “Swing Your Rag” beat, with added help from a Beastie Boys vocal sample, crowning himself the “new best rapper alive”, and with these ferocious lyrics, you can’t help but believe him. Same can be said for “I’m Nice” (a flip of Game’s “My Life”) or “Let The Beat Build” (borrowed from Lil’ Wayne), both of which find Royce outshining the original beats’ owners. Meanwhile, Green Lantern’s new take on Akon’s “Gangsta”, shows Royce could easily fit in the major label mindset, sliding in perfectly next to Akon.

The album version may not have these remixes and freestyles that the mixtape does, but it also pleases with several original selections, holding up just as strong. The opening track, “Promise Land” sets the album up perfectly, as Royce delivers thought-provoking lyrics over a moody Nottz track, much different than the humorous gun-raps that propel the mixtape. Also exclusive here is the star-studded collaboration, “Give Up Your Guns”, featuring Talib Kweli & Raekwon over a ridiculous DJ Wich beat. “Rewind” is another exclusive track, a conceptual sample where Royce recounts the tragic deaths of three unnamed emcees – including Big L and Soulja Slim – over a track last ripped by Rugged Intellect and Buckwild (“Gonna Move”). Royce is also treated to exclusive tracks by Black Milk (“Let’s Talk), 9th Wonder (“On The Low”) and longtime collaborator Carlos “Six July” Broady (“Angel”).

Shared among both the mixtape and the album are the more thugged-out selections, with or without added gunshot sound effects, depending on which version you are listening to. The best of these is “Been Shot Down”, a bullet-ridden DJ Green Lantern track, as Royce switches his flow-up speaking on the mysterious assassinations of several strong Black voices – from Malcolm X to 2Pac, questioning if Obama or Nas could be next. Green Lantern also produces the marching “Gun Music”, which borrows the same Enter The Dragon sample found on Dilated Peoples’ “Work the Angles”, but flipped entirely different, as well as “Bad Guy”, which draws inspiration from Eazy-E and Jay-Z, as Royce slithers over Green’s sleazy beat. The auto-tuned “We Deep” shouldn’t work, but it does, as Royce teams with local Detroit thug Trick Trick, and murders him in one verse.

Normally, this type of idle gun-chatter doesn’t impress us, however Royce is so lyrically physically fit that he’s firing punch-rhymes with a MAC-11. It’s a perfect combination of backpack cleverness and thug-braggadocio that makes him one of the nicest emcees in the game. The album features more of Royce’s conceptual, thought-provoking lyrical content, while the mixtape focuses on his blistering freestyle verses, that push the limits of politeness, most likely to incite more beef with other rappers. He’s got a handle on this thing like an early Eminem, making you wonder what’s going to come out of his mouth next. Both projects offer complete satisfaction, and the scary part is, he’s just getting warmed up for his 2009 DJ Premier helmed LP, Street Hop. – Pizzo