"We Just Kiss Each Other To Avoid Saying Hateful Things"

So I know that I promised to just give away music but since I have been good so far I feel like I can talk about one mix-tape that isn't free. The mix-tape I wanted to look at is the new Mac Lethal mix-tape named North Korean BBQ (2011). This is Mac Lethal's first mix-tape release in about two years. Mac Lethal is best known for his battle rapping with Grind Time and also his album 11:11 (2007) which received a small amount of commercial fame.

Mac Lethal let me down over the years when he started aiming a lot of his songs at a college crowd. You can hear it on songs like "Pound That Beer" from 11:11. He was trying to be Asher Roth. Luckily this mix-tape is a breath of fresh air. Deep subjects through out the album discussing the flack he has caught for leaving the underground and returning back home to his home town in Kansas City. "Therapy For Gangsta's" with the title alone sets off the tone for the rest of the mix-tape. "Raise the Dead" is another great one followed by my two personal favorites "I'm Odd" and "Something I Can Heart". There is still a little goofiness on "My Favorite Song" and the 80's break dance tribute "Little Mac", but this is abruptly ended with "Shannon". A song written for Mac Lethal's ex who has appeared in many of his previous tracks. All in all a really good mix-tape. The beats are well done and strangely enough most are produced by Mac Lethal. It's good to see someone come back and make a great mix-tape after the tongue lashing 's he took not too long ago.


As you can tell I really like this mix-tape. I'm not saying for anyone to buy it but there are some video's on youtube of songs from the album and they are worth a listen. So here's a link to where you can officially purchase the mix-tape and here is the official video to one of my favorite tracks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC6tLhXi_rQ: Video for "Something I Can Heart"
http://maclethal.bandcamp.com/album/north-korean-bbq-mixtape: Download For North Korean BBQ

Rip City Rick

This artist is one that I came across while scouring DattPiff.com for mix-tapes. Rip City Rick is a 18yr old out of Boston, MA and has just dropped is first mix-tape. I have to be honest I've never heard of the guy but his mix-tape Head In The Clouds leaves me feeling like people won't have to wait that long to hear his name.

As I have said before I am a huge fan of the mix-tapes that start off strong. Rip City Rick gets the job done. Nice to see the Beastie Boys sample in the start of the album on the song "Drop". That is a nice ode considering the mix tape. Rip City Rick reminds me of Mac Miller but just a little more laid back. The bangers continue into my favorite "Bring it On". Im not a huge fan of the oter rapper Gat but the song still has a chill beat tat Rick is able to ride well. The whole album continues much like the first two songs. "Keep it Real" does just that, setting up a jazz lounge rap image. Most of the songs either lie upon this line of really chill hip hop or over produced pop. I kind of hate that "Tell You Something" has the 311 sample. I died just a little inside when i heard that. It was interesting but Rick missed the mark on that one. Other than that a great summer mix-tape. It's good to see so many of these youngs guys representing hip hop.


http://www.datpiff.com/Rip-City-Rick-Head-In-The-Clouds-mixtape.242320.html

We Gonna Take Over the World!!!

Mac Miller is not a stranger to most especially after he dropped his newest mix tape Best Day Ever(2011). This album has received over a million downloads on DatPiff.com alone. Mac Miller has been putting out mix-tapes for awhile now. One every year since 2007 to be exact but hasn't received a whole lot of mainstream fame until now. One of the things you will notice about most of the people that are on this blog is they all have very strong internet communities. Lots of friends and followers to help push new mix tapes and get the word out about the artist and get people to shows.

Mac Miller is from the North (Pennsylvania)and he definitely carries a old school style but you can hear the pop production influence on these tracks. A lot of these songs already sound like they were in Lil Wayne tracks. The big 808's and snare taps on songs like "All Around The World". It is good to see him actually growing up a little and making songs that can relate to an older audience and not just high school kids but he is still just a kid so nothing too deep. "Through the Rabbit Hole", "Donald Trump", and "Keep Floatin" are all bangers but the whole CD is worth a listen.



http://www.datpiff.com/Mac-Miller-Best-Day-Ever-mixtape.207667.html

P.S.- If you like this mix tape almost all of his other mix tapes are on datpiff.com

The man in the white tuxedo

Soul Khan has made his name mostly through battle rap specifically with Grind Time. Soul hails from the west coast and is mostly known for his quirky battle raps and on stage antics. One of which is to battle his opponents dressed in a white tuxedo complete with top hat. Like most of the rappers associated with Grind Time, Khan is also trying to make a go at a rap career but not everyone transfers over well. Soul Khan does very well and has a very New York old school style about im which is strange considering he is from LA. His most recent mix-tape Soul Like Khan (2010) features old school NY beats laced with clever and goofy lines from Khan.

Like I've said im a sucker for a good opening song and Soul delivers after his intro with "Fe La Soul". This beat pretty much lets you know what the mix-tape is about so if you don't enjoy might be a bad idea to quit while your ahead. This is followed by great tracks like "Placed That Birthed Me" and "Fahrenheit". My only complaint is that the lyrics have the tendency to get a little silly but if you have seen him battle rap it comes as no surprise. Not that all of his rhymes are silly, there are plenty of times that Khan is deep. Though these times What would you expect from a guy that wears a tuxedo during his battles? All free so enjoy Soul Like Khan.

http://soulkhan.bandcamp.com/album/soul-like-khan-Mix-Tape

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ8dAdjIUkI-This is a video of him battling in NY wearing his white tux

Lace Up Till You Face Up

MGK aka Machine Gun Kelly is a young rapper out of Cleveland that has been making music with an up and coming producer Drama and his company Young and Reckless. Most people know Drama from working with his cousin Rob Dyrdek in his show Fantasy Factory. Drama also produced the beat for the  recent single from Chris Brown "Look At Me Now". MGK was also featured at the Fader Fort during this years SXSW music festival. With large internet community support and being shown on his website getting a bottle of champagne from Sean "P Diddy" Combs, MGK is moving up in the ranks of Hip-Hop. Lace Up is his most recent mix-tape release coming after the release of his first mix tape 100 Words and Running. 

The CD starts off strong with "Chip Off The Block" and "Salute". Don't be fooled by the quick rap because most of Lace Up actually comes off a little pop. The rest of the CD is filled with songs without much originality in the beats or hooks. MGK's lyrical content that accompanies the songs are for the most part deep and expressive of a artist trying to get attention and maintain integrity in the music industry. Though he does dirty it up with songs like "Midwest Side" and "Cleveland" which is refreshing from the young anthem sound that follows the rest of the songs.

All in all a good mix tape and MGK is a talented artist with great versatility in his style and how approaches his beats. Worth a listen without a doubt and its nice to see a musician giving away both of his CD's for free. So check out 100 Words and Running if you like what you here on Lace Up.
 
http://www.mgklaceup.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=10&Itemid=12

Wax On

The album I wanted to look at today is from a YouTube made artist. I feel like that carries a little bit of a negative connotation especially when talking about musicians but he had the talent and just wasn't interested in signing to a label until now. He started with releasing freestyles of other people's instrumentals while hanging out in Baltimore his most famous being the "New Crack" video. Once he got some recognition he started essentially working for YouTube to build his online fan base and in 2009 released Liquid Courage (2008) with east coast producer EOM. Then Wax released Clockwise (2010) with west coast battle rapper Dumbfoundead. Now only a year later he has released his new mix tape Scrublife (2011).  The mix tape is not only his first full length solo mix tape but is essentially a part of his signing party with Def Jam Recordings.

Wax doesn't get to far from what he has always done on all of his albums to date. Which on this mix tape is not a bad thing. I'm glad he put the "New Crack" free style (in celebration of over a million views), "Red", and "Music and Liquor" a track from "Liquid Courage ( on the album in order to stay connected to his YouTube roots. The beats are all mostly still produced by EOM. This means that the mix tape has that smooth jazz and instrumental sound with cool guitar riffs and piano melodies on tracks like "Dispensary Girl" and "Shoo Ba Doop" hence the name Elements of Music aka EOM.

The lyrical content is exactly what you would expect on a mix tape called Scrublife (2011) with goofy lyrics about partying and drinking too much beer. Though Wax has shown is ability to write seriously and actually putting thought into a song he's recording rather than goofy freestyles on tracks like "Music and Liquor", "Don't Need", and "Limousine". Though i must admit that I am glad that EOM is on this record after listening to "Everything" a track that was produced by Wax. Don't get me wrong it is different and refreshing break from the cool jazz but I don't know how a full album of it would be. All in all a enjoyable mix tape worth at least a listen. Plus, its free and free music is my favorite kind of music. <3

http://www.djbooth.net/index/mixtapes/entry/wax-scrublife-mixtape/

P.S.-Yet again completely free and sponsored you just need to enter a valid email address.

Some More Mixtapes

With Hip-Hop heading popular music today its interesting to see where the future of Hip-Hop is headed. Then again Kanye hasn't made a Hip-Hop album since Graduation and it feels like the only guys left are the original bad boys of hip hop like the WU-Tang Clan and Jay-Z. Not to mention alot of underground artists that aredoing wel like El-P and Slug from Atmosphere who now runs the record label Rhymesayers.

So where is the young talent at? Who are the guys dominating the charts within a couple years? The post I made before this about Lyn Charles got the gears turning around this question. I thought it might be cool ,since there are people actually following this blog now, to give away some cool (and more importantly)  free music. So I'm changing lanes on this one. I'm going try and have nothing but mix tapes featured on here beginning with the recently signed Yelawolf.

Yelawolf is from Alabama and a lot of his songs on his mix tape Trunk Muzik (2010) are accompanied by the twang that we love in the south. This is for your car and is meant to rattle the trunk. This is a great mix tape and a good artist to keep an eye as one might tell from the guests on the mix tape. Names like Gucci Mane and Raekwon. My favorites are "Box Chevy Pt.3" and "Speak Her Sex".Having just signed to Shady Records in Detroit unlikely that this guys records will be heard for free anymore, but until the next one drops enjoy Trunk Muzik (2010).

http://www.datpiff.com/Yelawolf-Trunk-Muzik-mixtape.130251.html

Charles in Charge!!!! a review of Lyn Charles: American Tragedy

      Oh how I love free mixtapes. They always provide the fans with a taste of whats to come from new hot artists like Lyn Charles. Charles is a philly native following in the steps of the Fresh Prince and producing a album that is a breath of fresh Hip-Hop.
     
      The whole album has an old school hip hop feel too it. If I didn't know better i would have thought that Jay-Z had performed "Lost My Heart" There are of course synths involved but not in very many tracks. "Life of Solitude" sets off this tone and continues through the rest of the tracks until "Lush Life". This is the first synth song and is a banger. Lyn's flow style is refreshing. His flow is laid back with screams of "Charles!!!" in the background at all times but he switches it up on you when you don't expect it and surprises you in a good way.

     Lyn Charles is currently an independent artist and is producing records on his own label “LynandGreed". I wouldn't be surprised to see Lyn Charles make it to one of the bigger labels in New York because it just seems his style would go over with no hassle. Keep an eye out for Lyn Charles I have a feeling that we haven't seen the last of him. <3



Here is the FREE!!!!!!!! Mixtape:
http://www.datpiff.com/Lyn-Charles-American-Tragedy-mixtape.229070.html

PS-Promise completely free and sponsored by Lyn Charles

Just the tip...

    A cassette single came in the new DOOM x Akomplice box set featuring two of my favorite east coast rappers of all time DOOM and Ghostface Killah. I have been listening to both of these guys going back to when DOOM was MF DOOM and making Mm...Food and of course Ghost Face was in the Wu-Tang Clan and making Fishscale. This isnt the first time these two have collaborated. Various Ghostface songs have been produced by DOOM and Ghostface has had a featured songs on every DOOM album since The Mouse and the Mask.
    The cassette features a remixed single from DoomStarks track "Victory Laps". The only way that I got to hear the single was through a youtube video of someone it on their cassette player. Even though it wasn't the ideal way to get a good listen at the single it still sounded promising. The beat was remixed by Madvillian and sounds like it. With oddly placed piano samples and a little airy making sure to let DOOM and Ghost make the song with their verses. So where is the full length DoomStarks album?
    This has been a record waiting to happen for way too long now. With all the collaborations it would seem inevitable, but maybe now is finally the time that these guys will get into the studio together for an entire record. Then again maybe this is just a tease to try and build hype for an album that is looking to be sold to the highest bidder. Only time will tell and hopefully these two will be able to at least put out an entire EP soon. <3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll3QS7jSNqc (song)
    

Mission Statements

To be sure, I think a mission statement for a blog is ludicrous due to the large range of the music industry/internet and the amount of new artists and developing genres popping up around the country all the time. Who knows who will be the next person to hop on stage in front of someone will be or even what new artists album "succeeded" or "failed" in any given month. It is difficult even on a personal level for me to assume the genre or even band that I could find or listen to tomorrow to influence my impression on a band or even on the music industry itself. This blog will hopefully be able to encompass as many musical genres as possible probably with a emphasis on Indie and Hip Hop. While also trying to keep in mind the troubles facing the music industry as a whole and the recent overflow of underground artists. <3