To be sure, the GN'R theme may sound a little gimmicky, but this isn't some mediocre rapper trying to draw attention to herself by slapping a multiplatinum band's name on the cover. Just listen to what she did with the Guns material: By taking the acoustic verse riff from "Civil War" and putting some lead electric guitars on top of it, she created a haunting and entrancing backdrop for some thoughts about military conflict. And the "Welcome to the Jungle"�based track, the autobiographical "Take this Pill," is a lyrical highlight.

If it gets the attention it deserves, Roses N' Guns will set the stage for Lynette's proper debut album, which she's putting together now. Her clear fondness for blaring guitars is a major asset, and her producers do a good job of putting this element into the hip-hop context�which, as we've learned repeatedly during the sordid history of rock-rap, is tough to do. Listening to "So Bad Ass" and "Darling Nikki," one wonders why so many artists have stumbled trying to work distorted guitars into hip-hop songs.

On top of that, Lynette is a talented rhyme architect with tremendous verbal dexterity. At her best moments, her ability to rhyme multiple syllables rivals that of Tupac or Eminem, and her ability to spit words quickly almost (but not quite) brings Twista to mind. She's not a bad singer, either, as she shows on R&B- and soul-flavored songs such as "Glory Box" and "Liberation Time." And genre simply isn't a reality for her: In addition to rock-rap, R&B, and soul, she includes touches of funk ("Beneath My City") and even club pop along the lines of Kanye West's "Flashing Lights" ("Don't Say No").

Unfortunately, her storytelling skills are underutilized. Most of the songs here are merely long strings of boasts ("So Bad Ass" is a particularly bad offender on this front), and while she does a good job of presenting her raunchy bad-girl personality with flair, she doesn't always do so through a coherent narrative. When she does stick to a topic besides her own badassness�such as on "Civil War," "Take This Pill," and the anti-religion "72 Virgins"�she's captivating, so she should do it more.

There's nothing wrong with a young artist with room to grow, however, and between Lynette's genre-bending and her rapping skills, there's little doubt that she has the talent and drive to hone her craft into something even more impressive than this mixtape�which, by the way, is available for free at www.djbooth.net.