Ladies and gentlemen, it’s that time again. Time to let go with the get go. Time for the faint hearted to get the party started. Time for you all to chill with the sultan of smooth, the man so focused it looks like hocus pocus, the unbelievable, undefeatable, indefatigable, out of your league-able, the FIX, Pretty Flaco.

So first and foremost, apologies for missing last week’s mix. I had the sickies and was buried underneath a pile of day job that wasn’t letting me see daylight. That said, I’m back, I’m hungry, and I’m eager to jump right into the mix. In fact, I’m SO eager (and so clueless as to what happened in music this week that would be worth talking about), that I want to get right to business. For your edification though, here are the mixtapes you need to pick up (besides the Week-ness, of course, because like Fab says, there is no competition).

1. Jim Jones – Harlem’s American Gangster

Build from the ground up or don’t even bother, East Coast rapper. While his southern contemporaries have come and gone, Jim Jones has refused to cow-tow to major labels, instead choosing to craft his sound on his terms. The result? Three gold albums that bring in that independent money. Why fight for a seat at the beggar’s table when the kiddie table has more food anyway?

2. Fabolous – There Is No Competition

Rap’s greatest tease is back! Will he drop another “Breathe” on us, only to rip our hearts out with his major label album? Is this amazing effort just another mirage in Fab’s desert of mediocrity? That’s what makes Fab so frustrating; when he sounds like he’s just screwing around is when he sounds most like rap fans have always felt he’s supposed to sound. Still, there’s something different about this latest mixtape; there’s a desperation and darkness that has been missing for almost a decade from Loso’s sound. This is like when Pryor disappeared for a year, came back, and turned the comedy game upside down, or maybe it’s just another chance for him to sucker punch us with a “DIAMONDS ON MY DAMN CHAIN!!!”. Ugh. Whatever, just enjoy the moment, people.

3. Re-Up Gang – The Spirit of Competition

THE FACT THAT I NEED TO TELL YOU THIS ALREADY MEANS YOU’RE BEHIND!!!

And with that, on to the mix you’re REALLY waiting for…

Monday:
Hitchcock f/ Hardwhite – “My Block”

East Coast hip-hop isn’t dead, it’s just buried beneath years and years of label drama. Case in point, Hitchcock, formerly of the tragically unappreciated rap duo the A-Team, which was broken up because duos don’t sell. Here, on the highlight of his recently released Countdown to H20 mixtape, Hitchcock recaptures the feeling of late 90’s east coast rap, delivering multi-syllable rhyme schemes that prove that every single member of the old Desert Storm crew should have had at least one gold album. Wait, I forgot, we only give record deals to fifteen year olds who invent dances and words and shave retarded looking lines into their eyebrows. My bad, everyone; go back to learning “the angry crybaby” dance for the next Souljaboytellem (Spelling? Does anyone care?) record. In any event, listening to the seamless delivery over a beat that bumps with piano stabs and vocal warbles reminds everyone how rap became great and why it’s struggling to survive right now. This is the lost art form of east coast winter rap; smiles don’t survive New York winters, people.

Tuesday:
Ransom f/ Hot Rod – “The Bottom”

I’m an equal opportunity promoter here, so we might as well see how the other half of the former A-Team is faring. Ransom, the one that DJ Clue decided to bet heavy on, emerges from his mixtape mainstay status to team up with G-Unit rookie Hot Rod to deliver a decidedly southern infused selection. That is NOT a bad thing. In fact, I have NO problem with southern rap influencing east coast rap, and this track is an example of how the results can often be a pleasant surprise. Looping a Jay-Z sample over a synth heavy, bass sparse offering, the track comes off equal parts sparse and urgent, with Jay’s hook infusing a sense of desperation to the cold synths. Add to that the natural anger that seems to fill all of Ransom’s vocals and the whole effort seems like the most satisfying (and marketable…yes, this could work, record execs who think that the angry east doesn’t move units anymore) southern/eastern fusion since Hova’s own “Big Pimpin.”

Wednesday:
Fat Joe f/ J. Holiday – “I Won’t Tell”

It’s taken me a decade, but I’m buying into Fat Joe. Granted, he’s an extra pack of Funyuns away from a coronary, but good music is worth the risk of supporting a disaster waiting to happen. Here, teaming up with crooner J. Holiday over a decidedly sneakily Latin beat courtesy of Mario Winans (who can’t sing, but knows how to make a smooth track or two), Joey Crack highlights a versatility that sometimes gets lost in his efforts to be the hardest NY rapper out. Blending the cocksure delivery that usually backs his more gangsta (“er” is for suckas) efforts with sensual surroundings, Joe comes off as sexy without ever being falsely arrogant (after all, anyone who saw him shirtless on MTV a few years back isn’t buying Joey Crack as a sex symbol). Added to J. Holiday’s understatedly sensual hook, the song manages to straddle the line between the kind of overly sweet that kills cred and the kind of overly gangsta that ruins rap love songs. He’s been telling us for a while that he’s the last hope for NY, and with nobody else showing his kind of consistency, maybe Fat Joe’s been right all along.

Thursday:
Vampire Weekend – “A-Punk”

Credit to Christine for the assist on this one, which has grown on my over the course of a day as fast as any track I’ve ever put on the mix. Vampire Weekend, the New York based band that blends popular African music with more traditional Western sounds, gives us this infectious number off of their self titled debut album. Sounding like a Paul Simon record if Paul Simon had spent more time in Brooklyn, the track shimmies and shakes its way along over thumping drums, thin guitars, and playful flutes. Give it a listen or two, or three, and you’ll get that feeling too.

Friday:
Re-Up Gang – Re-Up Gang (Intro)

Honestly, how much more can I say about these guys without giving them grounds for a restraining order? At this point, this column is basically just a weekly love letter to the Clipse and their cohorts, Sandman and Ab-Liva. And you know what? I don’t care. Certainly not when they’re dropping tracks like this, a marching, thumping beat on which all four members of the squad seem to be reaching for an A-game that will make them stand out above the rest. The result: The kind of angry, verbal roughhousing that has been missing ever since Lil’ Jon taught us that southern rap didn’t actually have to say anything in order to get the sheep to flock to the stores. I’ve listened to this about twenty times, and I’ve changed my mind as to which verse is my favorite. It’s the most satisfying internal rap debate I’ve had in years.

Saturday:
Jay Rock f/ Lil’ Wayne – “All My Life”

There is not a more frustrating producer or production duo than Cool & Dre. One track, they’re turning in innovative blends of samples or finding new ways to bend synths and breathe life into otherwise unremarkable artists (see several of their offerings on Christina Milian’s album, Yung Joc’s “Play Your Cards”, or Dre’s own “Be Somebody”). The next, they’re trading on the credibility to sell easy, paint by the numbers generic beats to the highest bidder (see their work with most southern artists). Thankfully for California artist Jay Rock, this offering represents something more like the former, with the duo digging up a gem of a soul sample for Jay Rock to detail his rise from the streets to the music business. Lil’ Wayne also stops by with an average verse, which means it’s a little bit ahead of the competition (although he’s getting a little derivative with his work for my tastes, or for an artist staking claim to Jay-Z status. Jay didn’t pop up on every jagoff’s record for a price, Weezy, so surely you can say no once or twice). Still, it’s to Jay Rock’s credit that he, and not his more famous collaborator, remains the highlight of another solid winter offering. Something about the cold weather gets rappers all up in arms and desperate. I love winter rap.

Sunday:
Fabolous – “Suicide”

Ever since Fabolous was a mixtape superstar back in the late 90’s, I’ve been expecting him to drop a classic album. From then to now, despite the commercial success Fab has had, I’ve had my little musical heart broken time and time again, so much so in fact that I’d given up on Fab ever living up to his immense talent. So imagine my surprise when I listened to his latest effort, a collaborative mixtape with DJ Drama entitled There Is No Competition, and found myself having flashbacks to the darker, more sadistic Fab that was hungry to break into the game. “Suicide” captures the vibe of the entire mixtape perfectly, creating a menacing, tense soundscape in which Fab has plenty of room to empty out his lyrical arsenal. Having come back home to his mixtape roots, Fab seems to be more at peace without major label pressure to conform his natural inclination for complex rhyme schemes to easy access songwriting. It’s tracks and mixtapes like this that keep us all coming back to the altar of potential, waiting for Fab to hit us with fire from Heaven.

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2008 at 5:12 am and is filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.