Mixtape Review: Night Of The Living Dead

Cookin Soul is a trio of Spanish (Yes, “Spanish” like from Spain) producers that you might remember from Ojaysis, a Jay Z/Oasis mash up released earlier this year. This time Cookin Soul took a few Biggie a cappellas and put them over some halloween-theme beats with features from artists like Eminem, Prodigy, Scarface, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, and more.

The mixtape opens (After the intro of course), with “Holloween”, the Big verse off of “Young G’s”, an old P Diddy song featuring both him and Jay Z. The beat samples the theme from the movie Halloween which goes well with Biggie’s vocal tone. Big had that kind of voice though, you sample the beat from “YMCA” by The Village People and make him sound decent. Nice opener overall, if you listen to this you can pretty much determine the overall sound of the mixtape.

Next is “Lost Boys” ƒ. Lil Wayne which is the “mass appeal track”. It’s got a big banging organ beat with some various gunshot samples that come in basically whenever the lyrics talk about any kind of violence. Biggie’s verse from “Dead Wrong” murders Wayne’s shit but that was expected. If you like both artists put it on your car mix.

Then comes “Orphanage” with a feature from 50 Cent. It’s got a Big verse off the track “Dangerous MC’s”. Not one of my favorites of the mixtape, probably just a scheme to be able to say 50 Cent was featured on the mixtape, I don’t know. Either way, skip track.

The following track “Sleepwalkers” is ok, nothing great. The production is pretty good and Jay drops a solid verse but it’s worth no more than a couple listens at most. The Big verse is off “Niggas” from the Born Again album.

“Exorcist” follows with an Eminem feature and a verse from Big off of “Hold Ya Head”. This is a pretty decent track and another one that I think defines or sums up the mixtape as a whole.

Then there is “Gremlins” which stands out from the rest of the tracks of the mixtape. I don’t really think it belongs on here. It has a sound and feel that is more upbeat than the rest of the tracks. Maybe it’s ok if you are listening to just this one track but it doesn’t flow with the theme of the mixtape. Big verse off of “Running Your Mouth”.

The same thing goes for the next track“Deep Red” as the one before it. It starts out sounding like it will have the same Halloween sound as some of the tracks before it did but then it breaks into this beat I wouldn’t be surprised to hear from any Biggie mash album. Verse off of “Come On”.

The album’s theme returns with the following track “Nightmare on Elm St”. Big’s verse from “Suicidal Thoughts” goes well with the beat and Scarface‘s verse ain’t too bad either. 

“Dawn of the dead” follows which is Biggie’s verse off “The What” over a head-banging beat. Nothing too amazing, basically just a filler track.

“Ghost Of Lil Kim” is Biggie rapping a Lil Kim track called “Queen Bitch” which I am guessing completely or partly created. I like this track because they Cookin Soul turns down the beat a little so Big’s voice is mad clear.

The next track on this mixtape is “Thriller” (Big’s verse is off of “Nasty Girl”), it was actually an interesting track. What I don’t like about it is that they put a slight auto tune effect on Biggie’s voice, what is that about? Plus, after his verse, the song finishes as if it was the original Michael Jackson hit which makes it a bit of an awkward listen; I was left waiting for Big to come in with another verse, then the song was over…

Finally, the last track of the mixtape is “Night of the living dead” where Cookin Soul brings together Big L, Pun, and Biggie verses over a slow erie beat. Big’s verse is from “Real Niggas”, L’s verse is from “Flamboyant”, and Pun’s is from “Leather Face”. I liked this track but still am a little confused because Jamie Foxx is listed as a feature on it but I don’t hear a peep from him throughout the whole song. Are they predicting Jamie Foxx’s death?

Final Words:

This is a good mixtape overall. I like the concept, there was some nice features, and Cookin Soul did a great job with production. It’s also a free download so there is no reason not to pick it up.

Download Night Of The Living Dead!

Album Review: John Robinson- I Am Not For Sale

What I love about this blog is that while I (Hopefully) introduce you all to new artists that you might like, I also am constantly discovering new artists myself. This is what happened in the case of John Robinson. Also known as “Lil Sci”, John Robinson is a Queens native emcee with a deep voice and a smooth flow. Here is my review of his 2008 release, I Am Not For Sale…

+Positive

As stated on his MySpace page, John Robinson’s style is the equivalent of Nas’ voice plus CL Smooth’s calm delivery. This album was easy on the ears in terms of lyrical style an delivery

-Negative

When I actually broke down some of the rhymes in this album they are good but very basic. I found myself being able to finish some of Robinson’s rhymes on the first listen. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it damn sure ain’t a good thing either.

+Positive

Production on this albums rides behind the lyrics but don’t sleep on the beats. Robinson even got Flying Lotus to produce the track “Don King” which is the best production-wise of the album.

-Negative

Nothing amazing from John Robinson on this one. It’s a good album all the way through but nothing really jumps out at you here.

Final Word:

Solid release by one of the most slept on emcees on the mic right now. Worth a listen when you get a chance.

Top Tracks:

“Mascot”

“Don King”

“Dreaming Again”

Grades:

Production: B

Lyrical Content: B

Lyrical Delivery: B

Originality: C+

Overall Grade: B

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Album Review: Joe Budden- Halfway House

Padded Room got pushed so the Budden fiends found a quick fix in Halfway House, a mixtape compiled of all new material which has every making of an album besides the cover which looks as though it could have been made by the crackhead in the background with the “Just Say No” shirt. Here’s my review…

+Positive

Joe has come along way since the days of “Pump It Up”, in my book he has now reached the level of “Punchline Rapper”. A title much better than my previous dubbing of him, “One-hit wonder”. He actually has some clever lines throughout this one.

-Negative

Too much clutter. He’s got a hype man on a couple of the tracks, you know, that guy who goes “Yeah!” or “What” after every break in the lyrics. Shit is just annoying, I don’t really know what to tell you. Also, on ALOT of the tracks there is a “double-voice” effect. This is when rappers think it’s cool to make it sound like two people are rapping the same lyrics at once. Along with echos and some other voice stuff, this lowers the overall experience of the listener.

+Positive

Alot of rock influenced production, which sounds pretty good with Budden’s voice and style. It’s also different than most of the stuff coming out right now which is always good, no one wants to hear the same thing over and over again.

-Negative

Joe blows his horn a bit harder than he should on this one. If Joe Budden’s mouth determined his skills this guy would wake up every morning and shit a platinum record. I’m not saying he isn’t good, but maybe he should make sure everyone else thinks he’s great before he announces it.

Final Word:

If your a Budden fan, which I’ve found that there are many of, this is worth your money. Otherwise, scroll down to the “Top Tracks” and pick up a couple of those. This album could have been a lot better.

Top Tracks:

“Sidetracked” 

“The Soul”

“Slaughterhouse”

Before you comment about it, “Touch &  Go” was horrible. Might as well have called it “Pump It Up x2”

Grades:

Production: B+

Lyrical Content: B-

Lyrical Delivery: C+

Originality: B-

Overall Grade: B-

Album Review: Q Tip- The Renaissance

Before I review this album I must demonstrate an example of the idiocy in spelling of the English language. “Renaissance”, is not pronounced “Ren-ay-sanse”, so why is it spelled like that! It’s just dumb, what is the meaning of the alphabet if the rules of it don’t really apply in a bunch of different words? I digress, here is my review of Q Tip’s latest album…
+Positive

Tip’s flow is ridiculous. Maybe it is just that we haven’t heard from him in awhile, (His last official release was Amplified in ’99) but I couldn’t help but notice (Or re-notice), that his flow, delivery, and style are great. No one rocks the mic like him, and no one can imitate that high almost electronic-sounding voice that instantly marks any track. Don’t expect anything to come at you hard or fast on this album but if you like laid back, thought provoking lyrics (Who Doesn’t) pick this up.

-Negative

So we all basically knew that this album wasn’t gonna be bad. I mean, it’s Q Tip, c’mon. But to tell you the truth there is nothing “extraordinary” about this release. It is basically what you would expect, nothing more, nothing less. I am not saying that is a bad thing, because obviously Tip is going to have a relatively high standard for whatever he does (relative to all the other ish coming out right now), but it doesn’t really jump out there with anything new.

+Positive

“Dance On The Glass”. Usually I don’t present tracks as “positives” because I like to look at the entire album as a whole rather than every individual song but this is too good. Tip flows for a little while before the beat drops which I always love to hear from emcees because it shows confidence. If there is no beat to back the rapper up their flow and lyrics better be tight or listeners are going to be able to hear it, clearly. My favorite song of the album and one of my favorites of the year so far.

Final Word:

If you are an ATCQ fan: Buy it!

If you don’t know what ATCQ stands for: Do your Homework!

If you are a half-ass ATCQ fan: Wait till it drops, preview it, buy a couple tracks.

Good, not great

Top Tracks:

“Dance On The Glass”

“Move”

“Life is Betta”

Grades:

Production: B

Lyrical Content: B+

Lyrical Delivery/Style: A

Originality: B

Overall Grade (Not An Average): B+

Album Review: Statik Selektah- Stick 2 The Script

Statik Selektah is one of my favorite current producers. He can hook up a beat and his use of samples is always interesting. Here is my review of his 2nd 2008 release, Stick 2 The Script…

+Positive

Production on this album lives up to Statik Selektah’s standards which are pretty high. The best track in terms of production is “Get Out The Way”, where he uses some crazy foreign instrument along with a UGK sample to create a dope head-banger chorus for a track that kinda makes you want to go rough somebody up =) .

-Negative

The lyrical content on this album is pretty much the same as every other… Girls, money, drugs, and self-boasting. There are a few memorable punchlines throughout, (Check out Cassidy’s verse on “To The Top”) but overall the content of the songs were unoriginal.

+Positive

You can always tell what other rappers think of a producer by looking at the featuring artists of that producer’s album. In this case, there is no confusion that Statik Selektah is dope. The artists ripping his beats include MOP, Cassidy, Jadakiss, Phonte, Bun B, Freeway, Peedi Crakk, Q Tip, Termanology, Skyzoo, Joell Ortiz, Talib Kweli, Big Pooh, Consequence, Redman, Naledge, Reks, CL Smooth, Royce Da 5’9”, and more!

-Negative

A couple of the songs are a little boring. For example, “Destined To Shine” is pretty much a skip track. He got a couple upcoming rappers to spit verses about their rap journeys. It’s not necessarily bad, just nothing special.

Final Word:

Although not exactly the next “The Chronic”, Statik Selektah provides solid production throughout the entire album. Worth a few spins.

Grades:

Production: A-

Originality: B

Lyrical Content: B-

Lyrical Delivery/Style: B+

Top Tracks:

“On The Marquee”

“To The Top”

“Get Out The Way”

Overall Grade: B

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Album Review: T.I.- Paper Trail

Copped the new T.I. album the other day and gave it a few spins. Although he can be annoying and repetitive at times, TI has proven that he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Hit the jump for the review…

+Positive

Production on this joint is pretty well handled. Yeah, it’s pretty much the same Big Beat synthesizers, deep bass punches, and that same damn snare drum roll that starts off almost every Young Jeezy song; But there are a couple tracks on there that would be perfect to crank up in your car.

Swagga Like Us – T.I. feat. Kanye West, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne

-Negative

Get off the damn auto-tune effect already!!! On the two biggest club-bangers of the album, “Live Your Life” and “Swagga Like Us” the little electro-box is used by either Kanye West, Lil Wayne, or Rhianna. I can accept both Kanye and Wayne using it; Kanye is on some whole other ish, I won’t get into that right now. And Wayne, it doesn’t even matter. That dude could sneeze on a track and make it a hit. But Rhianna, she is supposed to be a singer right? If you can refrain from using the auto-tune, please do. That thing is played out to the max.

+Positive

There was a nice balance of pace in this album. On one hand there are songs like “I’m Illy”, where T.I. just drops continuous rhymes bragging about his skills over a classic dirty south, hood-rattling beat. On the other hand, tracks like “Slideshow” ƒ. John Legend have a softer and slower sound. This contrast is definitely one to respect, would you want an album full of songs that sound almost the exact same?

-Negative

TI hasn’t changed his lyrical content at all since his first album, I’m Serious. It’s all the same “I’m rich”, “I’m the king of the south”, “I like bitches” ish that everyone has been talking for awhile now. Plus, he keeps referring to “you” in all of his tracks like we know who he is talking about. I’m not implying that he go “Game” on us and start dropping names left and right but if you are calling out somebody…

Final Word:

A couple tracks off this album are worth grabbing to play in your car and what not but overall I was not too impressed. TI’s albums all are beginning to sound pretty much the same.

Grades:

Lyrical Content: C+

Lyrical Delivery: B

Originality: C-

Production: B+

Top Tracks:

“I’m Illy”

“Slideshow”

“Swagga Like Us”

Overall Grade: B-

Album Review: C Rayz Walz & Kosha Dillz

C Rayz Walz is an underground legend and one of the greatest freestyle battle rappers ever. Kosha Dillz on the other hand, is a fairly unknown Jewish rapper with a funny name. This idea of an album where one artist rapped a written verse while the other freestyles theirs is the first of it’s kind and also marks the first African American/Jewish collabo album ever. I had been waiting for this to drop for awhile…

• Positives

• Concept/Theme

I don’t know how Kosha thought up this idea for a Freestyle vs. Written album but it doesn’t matter. This concept is amazing and really kicks in when you hear it. At times I forgot that C Rayz Walz was coming up with his verse off the top of his head.

• Contrasting Styles

Both C Rayz Walz and Kosha Dillz have very distinct and unique voices and flows. This may not seem too important, but after you hear multiple albums from duos who sound almost exactly the same, you learn to respect this quality.

• Production

The entire album was produced by upcoming 19 year old artist Kentron Da Mastodon (Myspace Page)Beats in this album aren’t mind-blowing but I appreciate his use of samples from different genres to create a sound that works well with the styles of both artists

 

• Negatives

• Singing

I’m sorry Kosha, but you cannot sing. Especially on the track “I Love Jews”, it sounds like a constipated chipmunk screaming “ayyy luuuu juuuuu!!!!”.

• Lyrics

This is most likely just the product of this being the first album of it’s kind but on occasion throughout the album C Rayz Walz will say something that just doesn’t make sense. I give him props for being able to freestyle verses on an entire album I just think that with more time it could have been cleaner.

The same goes for Kosha Dillz in this category. His skills as a lyricist I felt were at a lower level than I have known it to be because of the speedy process.

* More Of A Disappointment

I would have liked to see at least one track where the place of ‘freestyle’ and ‘written’ were switched for Kosha to showcase his skills as a freestyle rapper.

Grades:

Production: B

Lyrical Content: C+

Lyrical Delivery: B

Originality: A

Overall:

  B

http://www.crayzwalz.com – http://www.koshadillzmusic.com – http://www.freestylevswritten.com
http://www.myspace.com/koshadillz4life – http://www.myspace.com/crayzwalz – http://www.myspace.com/freestylevswritten

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Album Review: Tomorrow Already – Now On

Now On is a progressive LA hip hop trio consisting of emcees IX Lives, Jackson Perry, and Haircut (Of The Athletic Mic League). I am coming into this review completely unbiased as I had never heard of them before until this.

First off let’s talk about production…

Beats in Tomorrow Already range fall into the downbeat, headbanger category. They aren’t big and complicated which provides a simpler sound to the album. And while scratching and mixing is apparent, it is not overdone. In other words, the beats and lyrical style are balanced rather than one overpowering the other.

The only downside of the production is that I felt like they tried too hard to make it follow the “theme” by being futuristic. For example “The Return”, has some kind of synth pattern and distortion in the background which just gets annoying after awhile.

Laid-back lyrics and vocal choruses are steady throughout the album which I think is an aspect that goes well with the theme. If you look at popular mainstream hip hop artists like Kanye West and Lil Wayne you see a trend. Yes, they both rely on the autotune effect to cover up the fact that they can’t sing, but the more important thing is that they are singing!

The age of hardcore gangsta rap is coming to an end and this more RnB influenced rap seems to be growing more popular by the day. Now On, as a group, represents what is is next to come in the future of hip hop.

The album’s lyrics are not radio qualifiable. (Good thing, it means they have content)

Overall this is something you pop in at the end of the day at home and just vibe to. Definitely worth a listen.

B+

Album Review: Heltah Skeltah – D.I.R.T.

Heltah Skeltah’s third Album dropped on September 30. It’s been almost 10 years to the day since they released Magnum Force which I’ve had in my collection for almost as long.

It must be said that this third release must be long anticipated by fans and with Sean Price’s latest couple of releases in the past few years I was looking forward to this.

I must say that I hadn’t seen the cover but had I it may have let me know to expect a bit of a change and 10 years in the Rap game is a long time.

This album is chock full of some of the hottest names in production going around at the moment.

Such talent as Illmind, Marco Polo, Evidence, M-Phazes, Stu Bangaz and Khrysis lend their hands to the tracks and pretty much every joint has a different producer.

Lyrically it’s the same old Heltah Skeltah although it might be that my taste’s matured over the past decade but I found much of it quite boring and throwaway. There were a few funny lines such as Rock in the track Da Beginning of da End “That’s not a Gun this is a Gun I’m the Rockadile Dundee” and “That ain’t a Throwback your Jersey just old Black” from That’s Incredible.

For me the best tracks came in the middle of the album. The title track D.I.R.T. which stands for Da Incredible Rap Team a rather average description for a rather average realease. I also liked the following track So Damn Tuff ft. Rustee Jux which has the age old favourite sample “Why has it got to be So Damn Tuff” from Tuff Crew’s – My Part of Town. The other two standouts were Hellz Kitchen by Evidence & Insane produced by Marco Polo which is funny because I was watching Kimbo Slice get KO’d by Seth Petruzelli whilst listening to it and interestingly Kimbo himself gets a mention on Ape Food which features the Representativez.

Some good news I heard while researching this was on the Boot Camp Clik Myspace blog.

Buckshot has been released from Hospital and according to the Blog walked out doing the Macarena. Buckshot was severely dehydrated and suffered 9 seizures in less than a day he had been hospitalized the last 8 days and now plans to get back to work on a project with KRS One and another album with 9th Wonder.

The production helps D.I.R.T. from being a fairly mediocre album to one that’s at least worth a listen but I had hoped for a lot more lyrically and this is often let down by foolhardy banter. It’s alright but nothing too special.

Overall Grade:

B

Album Review: Electric Laser – Giant Panda

Giant Panda is a dope alternative hip hop group out of California consisting of artists Newman, Maanumental, and Chikaramanga. Electric Laser is the second full length studio album by Giant Panda and follows the amazing 2005 debut Fly School Reunion.

Electric Laser, as the name implies, has very electronic based production with ample use of techno synths and 80’s dance beats. A cool and advanced sound stays consistent throughout the album while there is the occasional complex or faster beat like in “Same Old Shit”. Drums and Jazz samples give the album contrast to balance the electronic beats.

The lyrics in this album are interesting and fun if you are willing enough to really listen. What really confused me at first was the occasional Japanese lyrics in songs like “Precise Calculator”. There are only a few so the language barrier shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

The lyrical sound of this album is very raw and clear which sometimes is favorable because not everyone likes the auto-tune effect, but sometimes with a raw lyrics and nice beats the artists can be overpowered by the production which happens in a couple songs on this album.

Talent in wordplay and flow is apparent especially in the song “AIM” where over a cool beat Giant Panda drops an intelligent alliterate verse based on the letter “T”. And also lyrics easy to sing along to like in the track “Speakers Pop”.

The group overall reminds me of a current “hipster” version of A Tribe Called Quest and the album is a one of the better underground works of this year.

TrackList:

1. “Laser Beam (Scotty’s Theme)”
2. “Justin Case”
3. “Ready to Fly”
4. “Speakers Pop”
5. “AIM”
6. “Laser Ray”
7. “Precise Calculator”
8. “Same Old $#!+”
9. “CinemaX”
10. “Pops”
11. “Let it Go”
12. “Do the Robot in Cyberspace”
13. “Speakers Funk”

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T Dub