T.I. has always been a great rapper, warm and fluid and confident, his loose elastic voice winding under tracks with force and finesse. Before every other mainstream rapper was talking about drugs, he was doing it with a weary lived-in authority, proudly defiant and sheepishly defensive at the same time, bragging about getting money but lamenting the fact that he only had one way to do it. But great rappers don't always make great albums, and every one of T.I.'s previous full-lengths had a fatal flaw: desperate grabs at radio love, grossly insincere sex-jams, cobbled-together non-cohesion, or all three. Last summer, I thought Young Jeezy's Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 was the album T.I. should've made. Jeezy isn't half the rapper that T.I. is, but his album-- stunning in its focus and monolithic swagger and deeply nihilistic in worldview-- had more cinematic sweep than anything his progenitor had ever done.
All that changes on King. From the opening seconds, something is different: low ominous strings, a regal horn fanfare swooping over funk guitars, and eerie horror-movie pianos welling up from some unseen abyss. The track's producer, Just Blaze, never makes tracks for Southern rappers, but here he's given T.I. a monstrous banger, something very few rappers will enjoy in their careers, and the emcee takes it like it's his birthright, stretching his drawl over the hectic boom like he just didn't have anything better to do. Over the first four tracks, nothing lets up. Texas legends UGK revisit one of their classic trunk-rattlers on "Front Back", and T.I. sounds like he's doing them a favor.
-Pitckfork.com review read the rest of the review here
Apathy - Eastern Philosophy
As an appetizer to his upcoming major label debut on Atlantic Records, Connecticut-bred emcee Apathy is hitting shelves with his last underground hurrah. A founding member of The Demigodz, Ap has been on the grind full-time with mix tapes and guest spots despite the time it has taken to spin his life's work into a mainstream debut.
Apathy reps his northeastern heritage on the title track and album opener, riding a scratch-heavy boom bap throwback courtesy of Demigodz producer Chum the Skrilla Guerilla. He grabs the reigns again on the braggadocio-strewn family affair "Can't Leave Rap Alone" featuring more Godz representation in the throaty Celph Titled and Ryu of Styles of Beyond. Distinctly more relaxed, Quincy Tones borrows from Jay-Z's classic "D'Evils" for the slightly soul-touched "9 To 5" - leaving Apathy and guest Emilio Lopez to pilot the breezy yet emphatic testament to Ap's own work ethic. The album finishes on a particularly somber note with "The Winter" featuring longtime Wu-Tang backup vocalist Blue Raspberry. Apathy bemoans the dreary bleakness that coats the northeast in harsh winter seasons: "I can see frost in the corner of my window sills/ dirty crib, blunt guts where the indo spills/ a bitter chill from shoveling snow, hustling blow/ and ecstasy pills to pay electricity bills."
-IGN.com review read the rest here
Dj Whoo Kid Tracy Morgan Mixtape - Hell Up in Hollywood
DJ HONDA - HII
T.I. - What you know VIDEO (MP4 plays on Quicktime or iPod Video
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