With his third and fourth albums (Lasers and Food & Liquor II) floating in major label Purgatory, Wasalu Jaco – aka Lupe Fiasco – did what any other perfectly sane gentlemen at wits end would do: Put on a fake British accent and start a punk band.

Enter Japanese Cartoon’s debut effort – In the Jaws of the Lords of Death. Jay-Z may have called him “one of the greatest writers of our time,” but Jaco takes his ambition to a whole to new level on this free LP. He says the group was inspired by Joy Division and The Clash? and the 35 minutes of screaming and chaotic riffs packed into the nine-tracks are enough to suggest that the man famous for tracks like “Kick, Push” and “Paris, Tokyo” has definitely been watching his fair share of Ian Curtis performance footage.

The tension and anger in his voice is almost palpable on tracks like the anti-establishment declaration, “Firing Squad,” which finds Jaco confidently stating, “…I won’t sit and behave/we don’t fit in a cage/we’re not fit to enslave.” While a majority of the set (“Heirplanes”, “Crowd Participation”) does feature a strong “fight the power” vibe, the most anger-fueled statement comes on “ARMY.” The first Japanese Cartoon ever recorded calls armed forces the “bad memory industry” and finds Jaco talk-singing in his thickest Englishman accent over a beatboxed backbeat and loopy, fuzzed out bass played by The Cool engineer Graham Burris.

Jaco said he initially put the accent on because of insecurity, but he finally ditches the act on album closer, “Gasp,” and the four-and-a-half minute track serves as the perfect ending. It features the band moving away from the agro-punk of the last eight tracks and showcases a complete musical shift in thought. The shouting (“Sabatoge!!!! (STSO)”) and chugging riffs (“Beijing”) are replaced with glistening guitar and an aqueous keyboard part. Jaco – who doesn’t play a single instrument on the disc – sounds like a veteran frontman delivering a clear-cut observation on the developed world’s general opulence, more-than-adeptly delivering the line “your pleasure is painful…your happiness is killing me.” The message, and the tone of the voice delivering it, is enough to suggest that Jaco might be okay with leaving Lupe Fiasco — and his rap career — on a shelf after all.