Another good monthly mixtape wrap up hires! Thanks for all the hard work!
Some of my own impressions in case anybody is still on the fence about dling one of the mixtape.
1. Rittz White Jesus- Production is the highlight. He sounds very similar to Yelawolf although I don't think he is as interesting. Hi Five, No Friends, and Dixxie Cup are stand outs to me. Definitely riding around music.
2. Pac Div Mania! - A fun album with a few duds but mostly entertaining. A few of the songs sound too much alike but when it's good, it's really good.
3. Big K.R.I.T - Return of 4eva - I'm not as hyped on KRIT as the rest of hhgaf but this is still a must have. Good old southern shit that we don't hear nearly as much as we should these days. I have said this before but I really appreciate that KRIT "sounds" like a southern rapper. Way too much southern shit just sounds like imitation lil waynes or some middle school dropout grunting over club beats.
4. Sir Michael Rocks - The Rocks Report - This one surprised me. I loved The Bake Sale EP, but everything since then has disappointed me, lacking the sparse but clever production I found on that EP. I thought Tacklebox in particular was just fucking awful. This though, is right back to the style that made me like Cool Kids in the first place. Production is smart and unlike tacklebox, rarely lazy. No more instrumentals consisting of nothing but a drum loop made in 10 seconds. I don't personally think this is a party album, but more of a chill album that is just upbeat enough to be playable in your car as well. Way too many songs though.
6. Mean Doe Green- Black Suits & Shovels - Do you like rap to punch you in the face and not make any attempt to be smooth or pleasant to the ears? This is the album for you. Not my style really, but for anyone who just likes this kind of hip hop, you will love this album.
7. The Illz - :03 From Gold - The Pursuit is one of my favorite releases in years. In between series got much less play from me, lacking the phenomenal production of pursuit imo. :03 is a revisit to what made me such a fan of Illz but it's just a small taste and I hope is a indication of what his full length will be like. November Sky is so damn good.
8. Dom Kennedy - The Original Dom Kennedy - I prefer my westcoast hip hop a little harder but there is some good production to be found here anyways. Dom Kennedy however is wildly inconsistent, ripping up one track and then sounding lazy and amatuerish on the next. I wouldn't complain if you skipped this, however I would recommend at least giving it a listen.
And a few of my own.
Mike Schpitz - The Prize Package vol. 1
Dont sleep on this. Mike is dope, but the production is even better. Seriously fantastic beats. The album could have benefited from being trimmed a bit, but the so so tracks are few and far between and are overwhelmed by the great ones.
Wax - Scrublife Mixtape
Reminds me a lot of asher roth with a stronger voice. Similar flow, similar subject matter, and similar production. A really fun album that is just enjoyable as hell to sit back and listen to, gives me a nice 90's vibe. From sampling the price is right fail noise, weaving a story about going to a medical marijuana dispensary, or just celebrating being lazy. The album doesn't take itself seriously at all, and it's best you don't either. The track by Dale Firebird is fucking hilarious.