Rising from dealing crack cocaine in his nan’s yard to becoming a new-age poster boy for road rap, Barking’s Potter Payper has a rough diamond energy that’s difficult to dislike. Thanks for Waiting, his latest mixtape and third release since leaving prison on drug charges, is the prolific 30-year-old’s first project on major label 0207 Def Jam.

Loaded with high-profile guests (Unknown T, Digga D, M Huncho), it seems to mark a transition into the pop charts. However, when the rapper tries to make people dance (Plain Clothes), or even plays the romantic (I Just Need), it falls flat. The MC is more compelling when he leans into being the Trap Yoda, cracking jokes (on For the Block he says he’s “on the stove like white vinegar”) and philosophy (“Never tell the next man your wages”) for drug dealers to live by.

The excellent Nothing’s Free mixes the elegant strings of a vintage mafioso film score with UK drill, while standout Rappers Lie dismisses studio gangsters who care more about TikTok dances than honouring the streets. It isn’t a coincidence that these grittier moments are when this bloated project really soars.

Thanks for Waiting, which is preoccupied with turning pain into something opulent and sparkly, could test day-ones who look to the rapper for something uncut and raw. If Potter Payper can address the balance between radio-friendly and underground with future releases, you sense he’s capable of releasing something unmissable.

Thomas Hobbs