Top 5 Mixtapes of the Month (April)

April provided a wide variety of very good mixtapes so this was a hard decision to build this month’s top 5 but I can assure you these are the only tapes you will need to download so as always have a listen and enjoy.  

1. Peter Rosenberg - New York Renaissance:  Hot 97 radio personality Peter Rosenberg puts together an amazing project showcasing the new face of New York hip hop with tracks from Pro Era, Action Bronson, Troy Ave, Worlds Fair and many more, definitely worth a listen. D/L: http://www.datpiff.com/Peter-Rosenberg-New-York-Renaissance-mixtape.473852.html

2. Big K.R.I.T - King Remembered in Time: The fans have been waiting and finally the Mississippi native releases his highly anticipated self titled King Remembered in Time which as always is solely produced by KRIT himself with features from Trinidad James, Bun B, Future and many more. D/L:   http://www.datpiff.com/Big-KRIT-King-Remembered-In-Time-mixtape.473106.html 

3. Wiz Khalifa & Curren$y - Live in Concert: After being delayed last year because of certain samples clearances to be sorted the smoked out duo wiz and curren$y finally released their latest collaborative project as a 6 track EP and what better day to release this EP than on Nation Smoke Day 4/20. D/L: http://www.monstermixtapes.net/mixtapes/view/4294/Wiz-Khalifa-Curreny-Live-In-Concert-EP

4. Rockie Fresh - The Birthday Tape: In celebration of his birthday he celebrated recently the Chicago Rapper releases this 7 track mixtape for the fans with features from MMG members Rick Ross & Gunplay and production from lunice and others. D/L: http://www.datpiff.com/Rockie-Fresh-The-Birthday-Tape-mixtape.483370.html

5. Los – Becoming King:  Bad Boy Records signee Los drops his latest project for the streets with features from Diddy, Ludacris, Twista, Juicy J, Pusha T with production from Dot Pro, J Oliver, 1500 or Nothin and Many more, very decent tape to listen to. D/L: http://www.datpiff.com/Los-Becoming-King-mixtape.410791.html

GAME CHANGER: Lil Wayne

I was inspired to write this article because over the past few months I’ve been hearing and reading very ignorant, incorrect and slightly retarded comments about the New Orleans Native Dwayne Carter A.K.A Lil Wayne, there has been a huge commotion about his current existence in the rap game from various persons from social media to your regular face to face conversations but from my perspective all I’m hearing  is many misconceptions from individual’s who lack a knowledge of this culture we love and adore called Hip Hop so I’m here to clear the air and shed a little light into the dark minds of those who ponder these thoughts and teach you to respect and give credit to our game changers in the Hip Hop society.

Now before I begin just to make it clear I ‘m not here to glorify Lil Wayne nor am i here to say he’s the G.O.A.T  all I’m doing is giving credit where its due and correct the many assumptions being made bout the Young Money Tyrant.  Now u have to give Wayne his props for mastering the art of longevity in the rap game, from the beginning of his career to current times he still manages to be highly relevant in the face of Hip Hop by his global fans and other Rappers in the game, that’s 14 years I know a lot of dudes who enter this game at the highest peak and fall off after a 4 four year period so understand that’s an extremely difficult and great accomplishment I know he must be proud of. 

Wayne Has also been an innovator over the years, always creating new slangs and trends that many follow way after he took the risk to let it be known. One of the first slang’s Wayne crafted is the infamous Bling on the 1999 Hit record “Bling Bling” By B.G and Cash Money Millionaires, I mean he was the first rapper to tattoo his face probably the first rapper to pierce his lip and look at the many artiste that follow this trend heavy during these current times so there’s no doubt Wayne has been a Game Changer throughout his musical career.  

Now I’ve seen the many statements these days that Mr. Carter Has “Fall Off” or “Lost His Touch” now that left me puzzled because I don’t understand or the meaning of those terms are different for me because a rapper that has “Fall off” doesn’t Sell 1 Million Copies In his first week for an album or move 217K on a project he claims is his worst body of work I mean you people have a huge misconception in your mind what your brain is not realizing is that Wayne’s Current Format of how he raps is Becoming played out to you now that is the term and only term you should be using when referring to is current status because Four/Five years ago when he stopped writing rhymes and constructing his verses off the dome where he developed this creative spark of abstract smiles and punch lines, playful but yet poetic at times you were infatuated by this new sound, you loved it but for some after a while the element of surprise in Wayne’s bars were dying  it sounded predictable to you so it slowly became played out but needless to say Wayne still can deliver a worthy verse when ready it’s just not consistent but a large majority still loves the format and continue to support the music but what I’m trying to do is correct these comments of the rapper being off his game because that’s not clearly not the case because if u turn on our TV, Listen you radio, borrow your friends iPod there is a 70% chance you will be hearing a little Wayne Record or he featured on the track.

So with all that taken into consideration all I ask is for you to do is give credit where it’s due, respect his craft. Applaud his effort to innovate the era of Hip Hop and realize the difference between “Played out” and “Fell Off” because  comments like those are made by those who see with their eyes closed and hear with their ears covered buy hey that’s just my outlook on the situation.           

REVIEW: Tyler the Creator – WOLF

WOLF is the third studio album from Tyler the Creator, Leader of the hip hop collective Odd Future which was released on April 2, 2013 on Odd Future records.  This is by far some of Tyler’s best work as it relates to the dramatic improvements in his production skills and obvious lack of his regular subject matter which normally includes rape, Satanist, vulgarity behavior etc. So with that being said you can see the maturity being developed in Tyler’s music and within himself as he slowly closes the doors on the issues he has expressed in his last two previous albums Bastard and Goblin and is now trying to find closure and develop more as a person and as an artist. This shift could be controversial to the Bastard fans but also allow more people to appreciate the cohesiveness and dynamic spontaneity of Tyler so I guess in all aspects you got to lose some in order to gain more.   

The album starts off with the track Wolf now Tyler’s previous projects worked with the concept of his discussions with his school counselor but he switched it up on this album by having a very melodic instrumental playing at the beginning before introducing himself on the track with a blunt FUCK YOU so best believe not all is lost as Tyler still has his wild, random and non care mentality still impacted in his persona. The concept of the album changes a little, it now tells a small story of a camping trip in which includes the regular characters such as Wolf, The High School Counselor, Sam and Salem (Sam’s So Called Girlfriend) so as u listen the album you should be able to hear the conclusion of this short story.  

As always Tyler does features hi s Odd Future Posse On This album with the likes of Domo Genesis, Frank Ocean, Earl sweatshirt and former Odd future members like Casey Veggies but its two features on this WOLF album that brought life to some of the records like Erykah badu on TreeHome95 which I must say is probably the best record on WOLF with how her smoothing vocals had u mesmerized over the composition of the neon soul infused beat Tyler laced, he truly is a creative producer. The other feature has to be Tyler’s Idol and these days friend Pharrell on the Popular record IFHY (I Fucking Hate You) which tells the tale of an twisted obsessive love/hate one can experience but its Pharrell‘s co-production and N.E.R.D like vocals that gave it that extra vibe to the record to make it the hit it is today.     

The Subject Matter of WOLF goes from Tyler’s Issues with Fame, the reality of his grandmother dying and his inability to cope and his long and aggravated hatred for his father but Tyler still manages to have his regular fun on most of the records like Jamba, Domo23, Trashwang and Tamale so as u can see this is another well put together effort from the emo psychopath himself but u hear the improvement in his beats, u can hear the maturity in his song content so for those who were skeptical of his music because of the abnormality and aggressive nature I challenge you to listen WOLF, look past what u may find bizarre and tap into the subconscious and creative mind of this guy named Tyler and appreciate the G.O.O.D music he delivers to his fans  and support his effort to spark a shock value in Hip Hop.     

Top 5 Mixtapes of the Month (March)

Another incredibly slow month of worthy mixtapes but as always I dug and found the best five of the month of March so as always have a listen and enjoy. 

1. HS87 - All I’ve Ever Dreamed of:  Super producer/rapper Hit-Boy returns with a new project showcasing his HS87 team which consists of Audio Push, K. Roosevelt  and Kent M$ney. D/L: http://www.datpiff.com/HS87-All-Ive-Ever-Dreamed-Of-mixtape.465268.html

2. Harry Fraud – Adrift:  Upcoming producer Harry fraud puts out a collage of records he produced recently with tracks from Action Bronson, Mac Miller, Sir Michael Rocks , Curren$y Etc. D/L: http://www.datpiff.com/Harry-Fraud-Adrift-mixtape.463242.html

3. Gudda Gudda – Red Rum:  New tape from YM’s own Gudda Gudda with features from Cory Gunz, Jae Millz, Busta Rhymes and production from Cardiac, Young Chop, I.N.F.O etc. D/L:   http://www.datpiff.com/Gudda-Gudda-REDRUM-mixtape.460776.html

4. Bow Wow - Green light 5: Bow Wow is back with the latest installment of his Greenlight mixtape. His latest project features additions from Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Kendrick Lamar, Jadakiss and more. As is the way of many mixtapes these days, the credits on Greenlight 5 read like an album, with production from big names including DJ Mustard, Jahlil Beats, Aaarab Muzik, and Drumma Boy. D/L: http://www.datpiff.com/Bow-wow-Greenlight-5-mixtape.472559.html

5. Honey Cocaine – Thug Love: Honey Cocaine drops her 22-track "Thug Love" mixtape as an Easter gift for her fans with production sorely from Dkevirm. D/L: http://www.datpiff.com/Honey-Cocaine-Thug-Love-mixtape.471167.html