Some Mixtapes that recently dropped

So the latest big mix tape is from DC's Wale who's signing to MMG has been a mixed bag. While he has still possessed his bars the popularity hasn't translated as much as one might have thought. Wale is still the best rapper in the collective and with Folarin, he's out to build upon his buzz. Straight up, You are well into the mix tape when Wale takes a chance to really just go in on the "Fa We We Freestyle". That joint is fire. I am not going to pretend like I'm a Trinidad Jame ssupporter but "Flat Out" is that other side of Wale that makes him an excellent rapper. His ability to be street and conscience is a true skill. Of course anything with Scarface is classic material and "Limitless" fits that bill.



Nipssey Hussle's deature "chun Li" was a disappointment. "The Show" with Ricky Rozay is a good start to the tape as well. For me, this joint was up and down though, some of his more poetic tracks were a little flat and trying too hard to recapture that Lotus Flower Bomb feel. I like some of the songs on this rather long mix tape but I felt like at times it was a lot of things thrown at the wall to see what pops. Hopefully Wale can find a balance between Ambition and Attention Deficit for his next project.




So It's always hard to talk about an artist objectively when you've been a friend of this person since high school but I'm going to try right here for a couple of reasons. Number one I need to be more proactive with local and unsigned artists and number two, it isn't that bad. In Fact, if you're a fan of Fabolous' Soul Tape 1 or 2 and Wale's latest release, you will definitely like the feel of the homie Japiro's newest project, "The Climb". The Intro. is an example of the ability Piro has shown in rapping for years. He has some good lines and the flow is always on point. While I'm not the biggest fan of the hook on "4 More Years" the verses say something so it's worth checking out. "Mistakes!" with VIP Gutter and Eddie Numbers is straight and Japiro steps up on "Too Long" which also has Al Great on the track.


Overall, it's a quality compilation but for me I missed some of the more uptempo high energy tracks Japiro normally has on his releases. The chorus' might be too much of the Future/Kirko Bangz mold for me as well, however it fits right into the pocket of what is popular in the industry right now. It's still tough when you have a huge collection of music that will probably go unheard that you have built an impression of. Download from Datpiff.com right here




The third project I'm going to talk about is a new release from Youtube Celeb's the Twerk Team. Now one of my first blogs ever on As is Hip-Hop was about watching your daughters to make sure they aren't being negatively influenced and exposing themselves. It might have been presumptuous but it still stands, every one isn't going to be comfortable with their daughters being so outwardly sexual and there is a huge chance they will not be able to turn it into a success and Lady L and Ms. Twerksum have. So don't take that as a diss, take it as a warning that everyone can't do it, and that just because a girl is shaking her ass or twerking online doesn't mean they cannot transform it. On the positive side, they don't actually strip or do porn and they are making moves to get into dvd's and calendars. Now onto the mixtape, "Already Dope" which came out on the 1st day of the year.



This isn't the mix tape for someone who is looking for content, but the Twerk Team has leveraged their popularity and connections to get a very crisp and professional sounding set of songs for their first release. "Super Mojo" sounds like a hit for real. It's not the best song but it fits into rotation like a glove. In fact this is both better than I expected yet just what I expected. There are straight party songs you can see the girls will be twerking to in their videos and some that are more strip club sounding. The one thing I will say is Lady l is better than Twerksum. Twerksum also has this huskiness to her voice that doesn't always fit. It's cool but the the ladies still need to continue to work on their overall styles, lyrics, flows, and way to create songs, a signature style like their dancing. Some of the tracks are a little bit too over produced trying to fit too many dfferent things and it's not cohesive. "Razzle Dazzle" is pretty good as well. Head over to Datpiff.com for Twerk Team's Already Dope.