Oddisee - Foot in the Door (Mixed by DJ Jazzy
m not going to review this album. I want to but I can't and I won't. I've heard many good things about dude, and I've heard may good things by dude in the past, but I'm not going to review this album. Why not? Because personally, my time could be better spent. The album has over 30 tracks and I just don't have the time or patience to do this all at once. I'm most def not saying for you all not to download and listen to the album
Oddisee has worked with the likes of Little Brother, Talib Kweli, Wordsworth, Jazzy Jefff and I heard he's done a joint with Common. He's signed to Halftooth records (with Kev Brown, Wordsworth, Median, and Dash) and hails from the chocolate city (D.C.). Oddisee is a producer (produced many tracks on the album in question although it was mixed by DJ Jazzy Jeff himself) as he's done tracks for Jazzy Jeff and Little Brother. Personally I'm a fan of dude's southern tinged flow and I think his beats sound like an RJD2 influence Illmind, but that still says little for the album. From everything I know about it him the album should be golden, but I haven't finished it all myself so that is meaningless.
Wish I could've done a review, but I just can't find the time, so make up your own mind about it and listen to it for yourself.
Download
password: www.RapGodfathers.com
Prince Ali - I Miss 1994
Prince Ali is your average Pakistani-Canadian rapper...let me
stop. There's nothing really average about P.A. at all... at least not
in the rap world. He's Pakistani, he's Canadian, he's a re-born Muslim,
and he didn't start rapping until a few years ago.... and he's still
really good at it.
Hailing from the T.Dot, the oddity that is Prince Ali (and no we're not talking about the other Prince Ali signed to Heiro Imperium) struggled to find who he was which eventually led to him to becoming an MC at the relatively ripe age of 18. Now 3 years later (I miss 1994 was released in 2006) Ali is proving himself as a force to be taken seriously.
I Miss 1994 likely to take you back to hip hop's golden era which can be summed up in the year 1994. With joints like Gangstarr's Hard to Earn, Nas' Illmatic, Tribe's Midnight Marauders, Pete Rock & CL Smooth's Main Ingredient ,Common's Ressurection, Wu's Enter..., Black Moon's Enta Da Stage, Biggie's Ready to Die, and Outkast's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik to
name a few 1994 was hip hop's livest year to date, which is why Ali
specifically attempts to recreate music from the age best displayed in
the DJ Premier tribute Rap Author.
To keep it short and simple, I Miss 1994 finds P.A. spitting in the style of hip hop forefathers with an easy to understand flow laced over (for the most part) Incise produced tracks. The album is best when listened to while driving somewhere in the evening or even showering (yes showering). Album high points include Rap Author, Righteous Scrolls (featuring Tragedy Khadafi), Beat Knock, and On Our Way.
1994 was a great year and I Miss 1994 does it's best to measure up to classics from the year. Although not of Illmatic proportions, Prince Ali's debut is nice and since kid has only been rapping 3 years it's a sure thing we'll hear great things from him in the future.
8/10
password: www.RapGodfathers.com
Cool Calm Pete - Lost
It took me forever to get up the guts to listen to Cool Calm Pete's Lost. My friend Ant had been telling me forever I should listen to dude, but with him being and Asian American rapper and me being half Asian I was afraid he'd suck which would in accordance kind of embarrass me. Ant gave me the link to Pete's album, Lost, ages ago and it was ages ago that I decided not to listen to it. I probably wouldn't have ever gotten around to listening to it if my laptop hadn't broken and I hadn't been forced to use my brother's school issued and highly restricted laptop. Due to the top notch security on my brother's laptop I couldn't download anything and was forced to only stream music through sites like Last.fm which (surprise!) Anthony had constantly recommended me Cool Calm Pete through. Because he'd recommended Pete's material to me so many times it was virtually the gist of what my recommended radio station played... and I'm not complaining. As soon as I got my laptop back Pete's album was the first I downloaded (legally as too!).
Cool Calm Pete's Lost heavily
samples old school Korean music (Pete is Korean), but it's so well
sampled that unless your parents are huge fans you wouldn't really
realize you were bobbing your head to likes of Isooni or Uhm Jung-Hwa.
Pete's flow is often described as slow or syrupy and I can buy the
syrupy part but I'd call it mid-tempo rather than "slow" which greatly
compliments his unexpectedly deep voice.
Lost finds Pete (A Korean American Brooklyn MC who can always be found wearing a New York fitted)
flirting with subjects from world travels to terrorism, to shooting at
tvs, to bitchy ex girlfriends along with their smelly vaginas.
Throughout all Pete still manages to show off his skills with wordplay
while remaining a humourous, average Joe type character.
The production on the album is always on point (very
feel-goodsy and easy listening), and Pete's rhymes are always listen
worthy so I really couldn't find a bad track on the album although
several high points on the album include: Lost, 2am, Brush P.S.A., Wishes & Luck, and my personal favorite Tune In.
Now the album cover is awful I may admit....what a chap
lipped, blotchy skinned, wack ass wanna-be rapper right? Wrong. The
album cover, for starters, looks very little like the Babbletron member
looks in person and besides if it did would you really want to miss out
on a dope album because you're a superficial wack ass yourself? Didn't
think so, check it out (preferably with dank and Cheetohs).
8.5/10
password: www.RapGodfathers.com
Awwwwwwwwwwwww man! This post has been a hell of a long time coming right? When I
started this blog I originally meant to keep the goods coming and to keep my shit updated, but for anybody who knows me, shit never really turns out how I planned. A lot of shit changed, made two moves, had to get shit in order for school, got a job, quit a job, got another job and got another job. Had to get the internet, then my laptop broke (fuck a motherboard), turned 19 and now shit is semi-straight (and it only took half a year!). Anyway, fuck the drama and let's get into some good ol' hip hop music.
Don Cerino - Nothing in Life is Free (Hosted by Mr. Peter Parker)
Cerino's Nothing in Life is Free's first actual track is the appropriately titled, Hubert Daviz produced Intro Track Cerino properly chooses to use his intro to give the unaware an idea of who this Italin kid from the heart thinks he is.
"Track one, attempt to attract more fans/ start with a prank then advance my plans....Question if nothing in this life is free/then how you listening to someone as nice as me?/ Released a CD without making a dollar/Praying and hoping that label's will Holla/I mean this...."
The production by relatively unkown, Hubert Daviz, is a light
and piano laden with theme-fitting cuts from Nas, Mos Def, and Common
(to name a few) which set boom-bap feel for most of the album's other
23 tracks.
At the end of Intro Track we hear a clip from DJ Premier co-signing Cerino, which picks up on the Preemo produced D&D Dreams. As predicted the track production is flawless and although it lacks the bass and grimyness of your typical Premier produced joint, it's light medley of percussion and woodwinds still creates an instrumental you can nod to. In accordance Cerino doesn't lack in the rhyme department as he states:
" The pen is my weapon/the Bronx's where I'm reppin'/Yes, eyes on ya Nike's so you can watch where you steppin'..../I'm an animal/No barks, but actual grammatical/Puttin' in the work while the other's take sabbaticals/A Cannibal/But not because I'm eatin' people spittin'/'Cause I'm evil, full of myself, It's the reason I'm the shit and.../"
Music for Life Part 2, borrows it's beat from the hypnotizing Hi-Tek track Music for Life. While the beat is borrowed, Cerino makes it sound as if he owned it from the first place as he spits about his life and getting signed along with Kyle Jeeda.
The joint that first got me interested in Cerino is the ReaLson produced, I Love Hip Hop. Throughout the trap there's a constant cut of "I love hip hop" as D Minor sings the hook. It is this track where Cerino let's a more intimate side of himself show.
"I love hip hop and I ain't talkin' all this rap/the culture, the
artform, and more than that/It's life style, I'm standin' where I'm at
right now/In the street, right crowd, look at this white child/ Talkin'
like he knows the ghetto and like he knows the hood/I'm a middle class
bastard that's misunderstood..."
Cerino goes on to express his disdain for the state of hip hop today (according to Cerino it's been made a joke out of) all the while professing his eternal love for her while forseeing that most cat's love for hip hop will die down as time passes if they don't learn their history and respect the art .
I'd most def. like to go into detail about at least 10 more of the the albums 25 tracks but I've got more hip hop to kick to the world. With that being said other highlights of the mixtape are Assertive featuring Reef the Lost Cause, Money, Money Money featuring Silent Knight & Raks One, The Statik Selektah produced Hypocrites, and the Illmind produced joint My Life. Aside from a two or 3 uneccesary tracks (Intro to the Past for starters) Cerino's Nothing in Life is Free would make a solid album which makes it an exceptional mixtape. Free from 106th and park endorses, Illmind endorses, him, Phonte endorses the kid, DJ Premier co-signed the dude, Statik Selektah is feeling the dude so feel obligated to give son a spin... besides, the best things in life tend to be free.
7/10
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