Rado‘s new project is out…and it’s nothing short of a boat load of trap stories. Usual suspects Yo Gotti, Bambino Gold, Alley Boy, Trouble, Armstrong, Doe B, Bloody Jay, and Junior Boss help unload the shipments over the featured production of Mike WiLL Made It, Zaytoven, Drumma Drama, DJ Skinny, and then some. WHOOOAAAA!!!!
UPDATE: Maaan I was about to go off about how this week has been so sparse with that “damned good rap” scenery…then the NO DJ version of this drops out the sky. Thank the trap gods!! Rejoice!
Kiss got some new work out, but it’s soundin’ like he set up shop O.T. Not a bad thing at all. An abundance of dopeman bars, big synths over 808-type drum work, and plenty of Styles P co-d assists. Other notable cameos include Sheek Louch, Slim Dunkin, Waka Flocka, Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz, and ASAP Rocky. This may be his best mixtape/album since the The Champ Is Here (although not without some minor lackluster production gripes…as well as a couple of questionable guests).
Boldy Blocks shows you exactly what he means by “a favor for a favor.” Obviously, not the guy you wanna do (dirty) business with. Off of his new Consignment mixtape.
Now that winter is starting to show it’s face, again, you can feel even more right about heading over to Passion Of The Weiss to download the newest installment of their seasonal mixtape series: Winter (Mix) 2012. PTP’s own Note D and I were invited along for the expedition: to contribute and write about 1-2 joints that, to us, screamed “winter.” These choice gems would then be placed in some order within the mix. I was honored to be chosen as the DJ to make sense of this cold heap of music and throw it all together.
Now, get your layer game proper, hike up those wooly socks, lace up those boots, and tell your mom to have a piping hot mug of cocoa/tea/cider ready for you in 30 and some odd minutes…cause that’s how long your cold-weather commute will be, as well as the runtime of this genre-bending mix: the perfect soundtrack for when you’re trudging through the subzero, whitened labyrinth that is the outdoors in winter. All Gore-Tex everything.
Passion Of The Weiss Winter Mix 2012, Mixed by Geng-Grizzly
Tracklist:
1. The Beatles – Rain
2. Iron Sheiks (Tragedy Khadafi & IMAM Thug) – Alluminati
3. Koushik – Be With
4. Roc Marciano – Snow
5. Mala EMZ – Eyez V.I.P.
6. Slowdive – Souvlaki Space Station
7. Virgil Griffin & The Rhythm Kings – Forgotten Lover
8. Nick Drake – Place To Be
9. Gil Scott Heron & Brian Jackson – Winter In America
10. Ka – Vessel
11. The Three Degrees – Collage
Please note: this was done mostly live; on two turntables and Serato’s internal efx (echo, phasing, etc.); in one take. This is not some iTunes playlist or a mix from only an Ableton/Garageband-equipped laptop. The “winter samples” and minor level tweaking were done post-mix. No cheating during transitions – it was fun as shit to take on this challenge.
Big up Aaron, Jeff, Alex, Note, Dan Love, Son Raw, Sach, Trackstar, and the rest of the PotW fam.
A new Styles P mixtape right before the Master Of Ceremonies album (out on Tuesday)? Say word. The good? It gathers practically all of the latest SP freestyles and such…plus DJ OP does not yell, add sound effects, or anything else over the music…SP simply does the hosting biz, between songs. The unfortunate bit? The quality apparently tapers off towards the end in both presentation and music (due to non-interesting trap-rap production…even though Styles is probably one of the only NY cats who actually sounds ill over that type of platform).
But fuck it, this mostly carries out on the tradition of any official SP mixtape…tuff bars and beat selection. Another addition to your workout soundtrack library (no pilates).
Boldy James is, in short, another example as to why Detroit has shot up to the top of my list of cities that swell with great rap drinking water. I won’t front, I only started to hear about/pay attention to duke around two weeks ago, but I was immediately drawn to his delivery (I’ll call it “lazy confidence”) and the perfect compliment to which that is his stoutly pronounced technical sensibility in verse structure. Basically, the dude isn’t just some “Young” or “Lil” cat going nowhere fast over really slow and heavy beats; Boldy can rap.
His two-part mixtape, Trapper’s Alley (Pros And Cons), just dropped and it is an ill journey. Futuristic dope boy music with an undercurrent of a lesson to be learned.
Kiss and Styles were never the guys to shit on tradition. When the likes of Run and DMC, Keith and Ced-Gee, Erick and Parrish, Po and Monch, Hav and P, Fame and Danze, Rae and Ghost, etc. made it something special to be a MC duo, the Y.O. giants had no choice but to add their own M.D.K. formula to the equation previously posed by their rap elders. Since tracks like “Dope Money” and “Banned From T.V.,” the two have proven time and time again that they’ve been dead serious about their algebra (plus that extra credit!).
Well, today, those dudes stand, solidified, as some of the toughest to ever go line for line. You really need more proof? Listen to the joint below, which is slated to make Kiss’ I Love You mixtape, dropping May 24. Too many hard quotables!!!!!!
Jadakiss “Lay ‘Em Down” (Feat. Styles P & Chink Show)
If I was to play executive producer for a Jadakiss album, it would be full of tracks like this…and, I shit you not, it’d be “album of the year” material. Come test me!
Happy NORE‘aster Sunday folks. Pop this sliminess into the system and commence the celebratory afternoon with some deviled eggs, colorful baked goods, and a family-sized bottle of Henny. If not, Animal Thug will not be very happy. Check the tracklist and production credits below… Download The N.O.R.E.aster EP.
If the name Crime Partners fails to ring a bell (especially in places other than Philadelphia), I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised. Well that’s what I’m here for. Do the knowledge.
Back in 2002, a special mixtape fell into my possession. It came at a time when a lifelong friend was doing biz with Dame (Dash)…as the Roc-A-Fella imprint was solidifying its expanding line-up from its older, ever-so-tentative and amorphous days (Diamonds In Da Ruff, anybody?). They now had a base in Harlem, commandeered by new signee, Cam’Ron…plus a squad of special agents from Philly, State Property, as led by Beanie Sigel. Inner politics of Brooklyn versus Harlem aside, this click from the land of cheesesteaks and sunni beards was really a topic of interest (and regionalistic hatred) as they seemingly arose with arms ablaze; from taking part in the tense (and historic) freestyle session on Hot 97 in ’01 (as Jay-Z played host and sent warning shots to some of New York City’s most celebrated MC’s) to then going full-steam at said “celebrated” NY rap heros (Nas, Mobb Deep, and D-Block) on the same radio station, a year later (sans Hove). While this war waged on, via mixtapes and radio appearances, my boy stayed buzzing in my ear about State Property’s newest recruit…some guy calling himself Peedi Crakk.
At first, I didn’t get it. Between my boy’s rants about how ill dude was, which seemed all too well-timed since Peedi was featured in that month’s issue of XXL, and the audio evidence on the upcoming Paid In Full soundtrack, I just failed to grasp the fully-auto, animated aggression as anything more than “Freeway with Louieville Sluggah‘s voice.” But one day, while surfing the newest mixtape leaks on IRC, a part of me took heed to a friend’s constant badgering and guided my hands to make the appropriate key gestures so as to download a mixtape called Crime Partners. Curiosity, thank you, friend.
To my surprise, upon the opening track, I was led into a highly-stylized rhyme circus, with an equal serving of gutter. Once again, the shock came when I found that the floor was split between Peedi and another guy by the name of Indy 500 (later discovered to be Freeway’s cousin), who exhibited a similar vocal tone and adoration for machine gun raps (both in flow and content) as Crakk, but had rhyme patterns that were truly off-kilter (though never seeming amateur’ish or uninteresting). So there I sat, faced with the realization that there existed a city, other than New York, which could possibly produce a horde of cats embodying the characteristics to make for a perfect 21st Century rap listening…these two recent discoveries were all the proof I needed. As you will soon see for yourself, Crakk and Indy throw those ideal attributes out on each of the mixtape’s 26 tracks, effortlessly, like pigeon feed.
Oh yeah, the skits are hilarious as well.
Enough talk, I know, you want music. Well let me say that I worked extra hard on this download for you lovely folks. Not only did I package it neatly (albeit, without any cover art), but I fixed the faulty tracklist and added informative tags (!!). That’s right, I went through each file to correct the many spelling errors, badly placed info, guest names, etc…plus compiled a new playlist file at the very end (so all you have to do is refer to/click on that and, no matter what program/device you use, it will play in order). iTunes won’t fuck your organization with the pointy end of a broken broomstick by sectioning off the files with cameos. This IS the first time in Internetical history that this mixtape has been made so available with such precise information. So please, take advantage, download, and enjoy the fruits of my labor (and the hard music)!
Tracklist:
1. Sherm High
2. Symphony 2K2 (Feat. City Council)
3. Live From 215 (Feat. L-Dot)
4. Phone Check
5. So Special (Feat. L-Dot)
6. Wanna Ride (Feat. Oschino & Sparks)
7. Phone Sex
8. 3:30 AM
9. No Doubt About It
10. Holla At Ya Boy (Feat. Tommy Hill)
11. Blap Blap
12. Magnum Brown Release Party
13. Shusky Baluski
14. Rock You (Feat. Hustle, Wiz, Gam)
15. It Ain’t Easy (Feat. Travis)
16. Dick Eater (Feat. Lipsy)
17. Fuck Outta Here
18. Crime Partners
19. The Way I’m Feelin’ (Feat. Key)
20. Check Me Out Doey
21. That Thug (Feat. Oschino)
22. Chitty Bang
23. Black Gangstaz (Feat. Hustla, Sandtana)
24. 1 4 Peedi 2 4 Freeway (Feat. Freeway)
25. Yeah
26. H.U.S.T.L.E.R.
