I have listened to mixtapes since the mid 1990’s. In fact, I remember when mixtapes were actually audio tapes. I still have DJ Clue mixtapes in a shoe box at my parents’ house. I have to shout out my mother for allowing me to listen to all types of music, no matter the subject matter because she knew I was mature enough to separate reality from entertainment. Sorry for the aside, but I have to shout out my mother every chance I get. When I was in high school, it was difficult to obtain mixtapes but I heard a lot of “underground” hip hop on a radio station that broadcast from the campus of North Carolina A & T State University in the late 1990’s. They played underground hip hop every Friday and Saturday night from 10pm-3am. I believe the show was called the “Full Moon Block.” I still remember hearing “We Gon Make It” and “Body In The Trunk” on a DJ Clue mixtape. That was a great time and I always search for that feeling again with today’s mixtapes. Unfortunately, I rarely find that feeling, but this year, I heard two mixtapes that brought the feeling back for me.
Elmatic
I have to shout out my boy for introducing me to this album. He said, “do yourself a favor and download ‘Elmatic’ because Elzhi killed the album that was inspired by Nas’ Illmatic project.” I downloaded the album that night, and I was pleasantly surprised. I listened to the album while working out for at least one week. Sometimes you hear music that is so good you cannot put down your Ipod. This album is that good in my opinion. For the hip hop lovers, we know Illmatic is a classic album and an artist must come correct if he attempts to tackle a remake. Elzhi is an emcee from Detroit so he put his own “Detroit” spin on this mixtape. My favorite track on the album is called “One Love.” On this track he rapped about a woman he met who was incredible. He rapped “We met up at the mall in fall, something I’ll never forget, she was the sh*t like when you sit and let it fall in the stall, like it was made, I’m more taller than small, she was 5’3”, looking like a woman with drive that had the live key, I pressed up loving her thighs and how she dressed up, bugging off her eyes and the size of her breast cups, long story short I got the numbers in the email . . .” Every song on this album is great and if you have not heard it, do yourself a favor and download the album.
Friday Night Lights
I was born and raised in Winston-Salem, NC and J. Cole is a fellow North Carolinian, so I have to salute him for bringing more acclaim to our state. I heard about his music around 2005. One of my frat brothers knows him and always talked how nice he was as an emcee. I did not take the time to listen to his music at that time. For the last two years, however, I have listened to a lot of his material, and I think he is a very talented artist. There was a serious buzz around the release of Friday Night Lights. When I downloaded the album, I seriously thought it was a studio LP. The sound, flow and artistry of the mixtape sounds more like a studio album than a mixtape. When I heard the song “Too Deep For The Intro” and I heard Erykah Badu singing the hook, I was sold. My favorite track on the album is “Blow Up.” This song is about a person excelling in life and not settling for mediocrity. On this song he raps, “now don’t it sound legendary, live enough to resurrect the dead and buried, this for n*ggas not satisfied with secondary, this for my sisters who ain’t satisfied with secretary uh, I’m blowing and b*tch I’m still me, . . .” From start to finish, this mixtape personifies pure hip hop. This is a must have mixtape.
Peace
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