David Banner, 'The Greatest Story Ever Told'

Backstory: Mississippi native David Banner (born Lavell Crump) was a former student government president at Southern University just a dissertation shy of a graduate degree when he decided to pursue his dreams in rap music, making his own beats for lack of funds to pay others. Two months after the van he was living in was stolen, he was signed to a record deal worth $10 million. He’s now on his fifth solo album and produces for stars such as T.I., Nelly, Lil Wayne and Snoop.

Why you should care: Rap artists real enough to admit successes as well as failures in such a compelling way are few and far between.

Verdict: “Faith,” which details the story of his homelessness and subsequent achievements, is one of the most honest offerings in the last decade in rap and is as much of a highlight as is the obvious commercial bop of “Get Like Me” featuring Chris Brown and Yung Joc, which stands at the opposite end of the spectrum but is no less true to Banner’s life. Two songs are sequels to popular Banner anthems, but only one should have been made. “Cadillac on 22s (Part 2)” is a worthy successor to the original, which found a home on Southern country radio, while “A Girl” is a crude follow-up to the amorous club hit “Play,” wherein a joke about choking a girl during sex goes down like a lead balloon. It’s a low moment for an otherwise solid, sensitive, aware and sonically eclectic album.

X-Factor: In addition to rapping and producing, Banner also has a career in acting. He made his debut in 2006’s “Black Snake Moan” with Justin Timberlake and Samuel L. Jackson and next appears in “The Longshots” with Ice Cube.

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