1/2

"Man," said a friend when he found out about this mixtape. "She's really taking that 'off-brand M.I.A.' thing all the way."

And hey, why not? Not only did M.I.A. coproducer Diplo work on Santogold's self-titled debut (as did M.I.A. coproducer Switch), but this is his second artist-focused mixtape, the first being 2004's Piracy Funds Terrorism with M.I.A. And like Santogold compares to Arular—an enthusiastic variation on a bracing, singular work; talent mimicking genius—so does Top Ranking: A Diplo Dub resemble Piracy scattered to the winds, looser structurally and deliberately hazy. This is a dub, remember: echo, warped high-hats, records by other people (Aretha Franklin, Barrington Levy, Sir Mix-A-Lot) strewn throughout like creeper vines crawling up a brick building.

But for all her savvy, Santogold doesn't have much personality beyond being old-fashioned new wave's latest triumph, and she doesn't command her sonic surroundings anyway near as effortlessly as does M.I.A. Santogold inhabits this showcase like a specter; she leaves traces, not marks. And Diplo's mix itself seems to overcompensate with a kind of diffuse busyness: A lot goes on at any given time, but little of it seems to lead anywhere; the same applies to mashed-up set pieces like "Unstoppable/Night Dub," which utilizes Benga & Coki's stupendous dubstep hit "Night," and adds up to precisely the sum of its sources, no more.

Some of it is just off: Santogold singing "Guns of Brooklyn" over the Clash's "The Guns of Brixton" is neither convincing nor shrewd. (Which L stop are they selling ammunition in these days, anyway?) The results, appropriately enough, feel both labored over and tossed off—how very '00s.