Freeway's Back With A New Mixtape

Artist: Freeway

Title: The Intermission

Release Date: 10/25/2011

My Rating:

  ★★★

Philly’s own Freeway is back on the scene! This mixtape crack, on “Da Feel” he states that the real is back. I can definitely say that hip-hop community has been missing Freeway and it’s been long overdue. His raps are real and the flow is still on point. The Intermission is just to let us know that hes back and ready claim his spot back.

“Superstar” goes hard with Meek Mill who is also from Philly. Freeway showed homage by putting up and coming Meek Mill who’s been making a name for himself in the industry. Also with another feature from a MMG artist Wale, on “She Makes Me Feel Alright” has a nice vibe to and “My girl” to end off this mixtape.

While some may want to hear Freeway develop more concepts to his songs, The Intermission shows Free keeping it Philly to the fullest and it’s definitely enough to whet their appetites until Freeway drops an album.

Mac Miller, Thanks You - Mixtape

Artist: Mac Miller

Title: I Love Life, Thank You

Release Date: 10/14/2011

My Rating: 

★★★

This is actually the first mixtape or project that I’ve took the chance to listen to Mac Miller and I must say I’ll be keeping up with all upcoming work.

This is a mixtape he through together for his fans, hence the “Thank you”. I like Mac Millers flow and delivery he has this mellow-whiteboy, smokers vibe to him. “Willie Dynamite” is one of favourites, also “All This” and “Pranks 4 Players” which features Casey Veggies and Sir Michael Rocks. You guys should also look out for these two upcoming artists, great music. He also managed to grab a feature from one of hip-hops moguls, Talib Kweli on “Family First” and Houston’s very own Bun B on “All That”.

He’s only 19 years old, he hold lots of potential and future growth. Its good to see young and upcoming artist making a name for themselves in the industry. I can say that I recommend you guys to download and listen to this tape, and to all his fans, Mac Miller “Thanks You”.

Is Papoose King of New York? - Mixtape

Artist: Papoose  Title: King Of New York
Release Date: 10/04/2011
My Rating: 
★

King of New York? Really? Papoose has been classified as lyricist and is known for his witty metaphors no doubt. But he has also lost his buzz in the streets and in the industry. For him to want to call himself the King of New York is a bit of a stretch. Right off he hops on one of the best duo collaboration of this year, Jay-z and Kanye West “Otis”.  Artist seemingly forget that if you’re going to hop on another’s rappers track and do your own version its must to kill it, especially if it’s an already hot record. All Papoose tried to give us was line after line and I wouldn’t say he was up to par with this record.

Not even half way through the mixtape and I’ve lost my attention towards his music and its sad to say but it is putting me to sleep. I found that there was no real structure in his songs but just lines after lines. He tried to feed us with a bunch of metaphors, some clever, and others not so much. I would’ve liked to hear a song with a hook or chorus besides “Party Bout To Pop”. This song was mainly good because of the appearance of Lloyd Banks and Busta Ryhmes.

Im not saying Papoose is a horrible or cant rap, I have lots of favourite Papoose records from back in the day, but my only argument is that he can rap but just not make actual songs.

I would love to hear everyone’s opinion and feedback for this review.

Bow Wow - I'm Better Than You Mixtape

Artist: Bow Wow

Title: I'm Better Than You

Release Date: 09/27/2011

My Rating: 

★★★

Bow Wow “Mr. 106 & Park” himself is back with another mixtape. First off I’ll say I don’t follow too much of Bow Wow’s music. But he has grown from the years as a rapper and an artist. He’s definitely not someone to continue sleeping on he’s been putting out a lot of freestyles and tracks. His work ethic and dedication really shows.

Right from the beginning I was feeling it, “Heaven” was fire and he held nothing back. I’m actually listening to it as I’m reviewing and I can’t stop nodding to this “What My Future Holds” track and singing the hook! But as quick as I was starting to like his mixtape, it changed by the third song. I’m not really feeling “Its Alive”, he had a few nice lines but I just didn’t like the context and the samples. But I guess its “Is What It Is”. I know all the smokers are going to be playing this “Mary Jane” track. More times I don’t like when some rappers user the auto tune, but Bow made it work on this song, so I can’t even hate. But I didn’t like the choice of him using it on back-to-back songs. He should’ve of just kept it to one song with auto tunes preferably not “On Some Other Sh*t” and “I Love P*ssy”.

To be brutally honest I wasn’t feeling any of the next songs on this mixtape but that’s just my personal preference. So far he has received 109,516 views and 54,365 downloads! So I still encourage those who haven’t listened to go download it.

J.Cole - Sideline Story Album

Artist: J. Cole

Title:Cole World: The Sideline Story

Realease Date: 09/27/2011

Lead Single: The Work Out 

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★

After all the talk and anticipation it is finally here, Cole World: The Sideline Story! Like many I couldn’t wait for this day, I made sure I reserved my copy at HMV just so I could have it on the first day. I’ve been a fan of J.Cole from the start. Ever since I heard his mixtape “The Warm Up” I was drawn in to his style, context of lyrics, soulful vibe.
Time for my review, once you press play on the album you start off by hearing the sound of a piano and the beat builds into a nice short introduction. Next song off is “Dollar And A Dream III”, if you liked the other two versions you’ll also enjoy this one. “You should get to know Kay /Man she been workin' too hard, I should send her a bouquet /My goal this year is a real one, gonna stack a million /And as soon as I do, mama that 9 to 5 is through /”. This stood out to me cause, we all know how hard our parents work and it’s the same reason we work so hard and strive for success.
Third song, “Cant Get Enough- feat. Trey Songz” which is one of my favourites. This song has created a lot of buzz, it’s all over the radio and in the clubs. The combination of J.Cole and Trey Songz melodic flow makes it a great hit.
Whoever who has been following J.Cole from the start knows that this isn’t their first time hearing “Lights Please”. It was also featured on the Warm Up mixtape, so for it to make its way on his album two years later is a big thing. This is also one of my favourites on the album, it held substance and a message.
Let me just skip down to “Mr. Nice Watch”, a Jay-Z and J.Cole collab, was long overdue. Although in my opinion they could’ve made a better song together coming from J.Cole and Jay-Z, which is one of the greatest in the game. I’m still a fan of the song but I just expected much more being big fans of these artists.
Deepest song on the album is “Lost Ones” it has so much meaning and such a strong a vibe to it. I know there’s a lot of people that can relate to this song and if doesn’t relate it still paints the image in your head and leaves you thinking.
Again in my opinion, “Nobody’s Perfect” is one my top favourites on the album. The beat and his flow mesh perfectly and has me nodding. Not to mention the special appearance of Missy Elliott. She’s been behind the scenes for a while so to hear her on this was great and she’s also the reason why I like this song so much.
The last song I’ll review is the last song on the album “Daddy’s Little Girl”. This song also comes with a story and a meaning “Mama couldn't never reach her/Brother tried his best to teach her/She thinks she's ready for the world/Just look at daddy's little girl/”.
I think everyone should go out and buy and support J.Cole and his debut album, it was leaked a week early. Artist work hard to make it this far and put out good material for their fans, so if your fan support hip-hop. Truthfully this is one of the few albums I actually went out and bought myself, but I’m a true fan of his work, I’ve been out to see him twice in Toronto.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cole-world-the-sideline-story/id464427218

Lil'B - Black Flame Mixtape

Lil B
Release Date: 09/13/2011
My Rating:

★★

This is my first post for my new blog.  As for my first review I’ve decided to take a look at Lil’ B- “Black Flame” mixtape. Let me start off by saying I’ve never liked/listened to Lil’ B and decided to take in this mixtape with an opened and unbiased mind.

I’ll say I found it hard to listen through a couple songs without hitting that next button. This is definitely not for me! It was nothing but struggle, off beat rhymes, rants and did I mention struggle?

Let me start with my dislikes. The songs that I disliked on this project were; “Yu Feel Me”, “Black Flame”, “Logged In”, and “Goldhouse”. But there were a few songs that stood out to me.  The songs that I actually enjoyed were; “Down 4 To Long”, “Herd Her Cry” which was about women in abusive relationships, it was refreshing to hear compared to his other songs.  Last but not least, another song I liked was “Can I Live 4real”.

Personally I wouldn’t recommend this mixtape to anyone of my friends, but if you’re a fan of Lil’ B I really don’t mean to offend. But on another note SWAGG SWAGG BASEGODD!