Emmanuel Jal, Warchild

Emmanuel Jal has had an extraordinary life. He was forced to become a child soldier in southern Sudan, but was rescued by his commander's British wife, who adopted him and smuggled him to safety in Kenya, where he became a rap star. His 2005 album Ceasefire, recorded with the celebrated Sudanese musician Abdel Gadir Salim, was an intriguing exercise in Christian-Muslim collaboration. This new release, though, is a highly commercial pop/ hip-hop album in which African influences are largely forgotten as he retells his story for the mass market. There's a bit of everything here - from the epic effects on the title track, which sounds like a potential soundtrack for a bad movie, through to biblical references, gospel influences and a dash of moralistic dance hall reggae, with just a little African chanting and guitar work on Baaki Wara. Jal is a powerful, confident singer but he shows little of the verbal or musical originality of Somali rapper K'Naan, who so cleverly mixes rap with Somali themes. Where he does follow K'Naan is in taking a swipe at rich American rappers, criticizing 50 Cent for the violence of his video games. Right now, Jal is more interesting for his story and his message than for his music.