XV just dropped this mixtape a few hours ago. I haven’t had a chance to listen yet, but go ahead and get after it. XV is one of my absolute favorites, and he makes some of the most unique, fun hip hop in the game. The awesome cover art alone should pique your interest.
Thoughts and Tracks on Sunday..but for now, click through and download it.
XV – Popular Culture (courtesy of Datpiff.com)
If you follow the blog, you know that XV is one of my absolute faves and I think he’s due for a massive breakout anytime.
He’s been off the radar for a bit, and he’s emerged with a couple new songs recently and they are ready to go.
The first is a freestyle over a Kendrick Lamar joint that came out earlier this week.
Then today he dropped this new original by Xaphoon Jones of Chiddy Bang from his upcoming album “Popular Culture”. Mellow beat by Xaphoon, and XV lays down some awesomely honest self-analysis (I’ve never seen Jigga play Chrono Trigger) with great humor and a memorable hook. Get at it.
Sometimes, the music gods sit down and discuss you. They think about your favorite elements of music, and devise a way to combine all those elements into one big package that will brighten up your day.
Today, they said, “Marcus really seems to love XV. He also has been listening to a lot of dubstep and showed a huge affinity for chopped and screwed music in college. Let’s mesh them together.”
This is the result.
XV ft. Wiz Khalifa – Gobstopper (Figure remix)
And while you’re at it, why not check out the original? It’s pretty whompy in it’s own right.
10. Mac Miller – Loitering (I.D. Labs)
This is a track that hasn’t got a lot of buzz, but this is the track on Blue Slide Park that has stuck with me the most, and I think it has to do with the fresh groove of this beat. The budweiser frogs/chilldub bass loop sets a solid base for Mac’s chilled out defiance. The old school percussion and the flanged guitar add just the right touches to round out the beat.
9. CyHi Da Prynce – Bulletproof (J.Rob/Chrispy)
The most subwoofer destroying beat of the year. J.Rob takes Chrispy’s devestating remix of LaRoux’s bulletproof, chops and cuts it and it ends up being the aggressive backdrop for CyHi and Yelawolf to go to work on. Who would’ve ever guessed those cutesy French singers would provide such a hardass track?
8.The Dean’s List – Dear Professor (Alex Mendoza)
Mendoza starts off with a sped up The Band Perry sample and drops airy synths and percussion that alternatively grooves and pulses. The sample on the hook provides the perfect emotive melody to reflect Sonny’s bittersweet lyrics about capturing the moment. This beat feels uptempo and peppy the first time, but has tinges of sadness to it that make it complex and repeatedly listenable.
7. Wiz Khalifa – Phone Numbers (Drumma Boy)
I must have listened to this song a 100 times this year snowboarding and getting ready to go out, and never heard the clever Queen sample that the beat is built on.That is the mark of great sampling. Drumma Boy takes the great Queen piano chord and composes a hazy, bass-heavy tripper that feels threatening and relaxed at the same time. Love the double 808 kicks. If Black and Yellow hadn’t already been done, I would say this is the quintessential Wiz beat.
6. Lil Wayne – 6’7′ (Bangladesh)
No way I thought Bangladesh could strike lightning twice after the A Millie beat, but here he is chopping a relaxed Banana Boat song(listen to 0.57) and adding melodic bass hits and frenetic snare hits to lay the background for Weezy’s commercial return. Love this beat because it brought out vintage frantic genius Wayne. Too bad no other beat could do so on his disappointing Carter IV.
5. A$AP Rocky – Demons (Clams Casino)
Everyone is jumping on Clams/A$AP’s “Peso”, but I think this beat is much more emotional and memorable. Clams Casino is on a meteoric rise, and I can’t wait to hear more of his signature lo-fi samples and wall of sound production. The chopped and screwed vocals layer on the beat for a virtual drank and smoke for the listener. This beat makes me feel for A$AP Rocky even without listening to his lyrics.
4. XV – U.F.C. (Seven)
“Aight XV, I’m gonna do a beat with barbershop quarter vocals, fuzz guitar, and Slipknot-esque garbage can percussion”. However Seven presented this beat to XV, he must have sold him on an absolutely insane idea by executing flawlessly. I’ve listened to XV’s mixtape over and over, and this is the song that more and more feels like the one I’ll still listen to three years from now, and I think that’s owed to the absolutely original beat. The variance from the cheerful hook to the aggressive verses is jarring yet makes sense.
3. Chris Brown – Look At Me Now (Diplo)
Whenever Diplo wasn’t making Blackberry ads, he was upping his game as the premier stripped down producer. This beat may be his most commercially successful, and shows what happens when the top-40 crowd is exposed to a fresh sound. The disorienting yet friendly dripping synths prove that one sonic idea is sometimes all you need to make a classic beat. Any other producer would be tempted to add other synth voices or samples, but Diplo stopped with the initial sound, only adding some slow drums to balance Busta Rhymes return from the grave and middle eastern woodwinds to add some mystique to the hook.
2. Big Sean – Marvin and Chardonnay (Pop Wansel)
If Diplo is the king of minimalism, up and coming producer Pop Wansel was all about complexity on Marvin and Chardonnay. I remember hearing this song the first time, and there being 5 or 6 times where I was completely thrown off by where the beat went. Swelling Strings! Anthemic Chorus! Chopped and Screwed Vocals! Sound Effect Loop! Slowed Down Groove! Repeat! The stop start lurch of the verses perfectly complement Big Sean and Kanye’s extremely dynamic flows, and the huge sound on the hook is the perfect backdrop for Roscoe Dash’s bid to be taken seriously as a vocalist. 100 listens later, and I still find this beat interesting and exciting. Perfect match of artist and beat.
1. Jay Z and Kanye West – H.A.M. (Lex Luger)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtoHI0JEfDg (live version)
I know I know I know…this song was critically panned and there are admittedly better songs on Watch The Throne. However, this beat trounces the eerily Young Money sounding “N****s in Paris” or the sample driven “Otis” or any of the other admittedly great beats on the album. Lex Luger introduces a frantic electric sample that feels like it was lifted off a high school science video about mytosis and then adds nasty bass drops and double time hats for the verses. Then, on the hook, after leading up with an interesting harmony, he adds haunting vocal samples and string samples, adding to the grandiose nature of the unveiling of Jay-Z’s and Kanye’s bffdom. However, what really makes this beat number one is the absolutely stunning Operatic break at 2:58 followed by a pianissimo reflection with soaring female vocals, only to come crashing back with the overwhelmingly aggressive beat. I can’t describe how many times I’ve lost myself in the final 2 minutes of this song. It’s the perfect grandeur for the introduction of one of the most grand rap collabs of all time.
XV just dropped the video for “The Kick”. The video could be more interesting, but it just reminds me how skilled he is with his rhymes. The inception references connecting to his own dream-like success are incredible, and the number wordplay at 1:27 is just filthy. One of my favorite songs of the year. download it here.
word to akahiphop.com for the heads up
I’ll remember this as the year that I almost exclusively listened to rap and electro, with some Fleet Foxes and James Blake mixed in for good measure. With that in mind, here are my favorite hip hop mixtapes of 2011. (I’m not gonna say these are the best, because some dude reading XXL will be pissed about my inclusion of Hoodie Allen while some dude who reads Pitchfork will be dumbfounded by the exclusion of Odd Future. I’m not establishing myself as some sort of music taste demigod..these are just my favorites)
10.Wale – elevenoneeleven theory
I can’t deny Wale’s talent at flow. I’m just not a big fan of his trying-too-hard personality and his mediocre songwriting ear. Anyway, this mixtape was still pretty sick. Varsity Blues, Chain Music, and Barry Sanders all go hard with Wale’s traditional witty lyricism.
Wale – Varsity Blues
Download the tape free and legally
The mixtape where ex-Google employ/unabashed white guy Hoodie Allen transformed from gimmick rapper to legitimate artist. Great summer album.
Hoodie Allen – Soul On Fire
Download the tape free and legally
8. CyHi Da Prince – Royal Flush V.2
Listening to CyHi, immediate impressions make you think of some sort of Waka Flaka/Kid Cudi bastard child. I got interested after hearing the anti-materialism anthem “Woopty Do” with Big Sean, then was completely sold after hearing the abosolutely destructive “Bulletproof” with Yelawolf, which features one of my favorite beats of the year with a mix of gritty dubstep bass and a LaRoux sample. The whole tape is great, separated into four categories; clubs, hearts, spades, and diamonds, each with corresponding subject matter.
CyHi Da Prince – Bulletproof (ft. Yelawolf)
Download the tape free and legally
7.Mac Miller – Best Day Ever
2010 saw the rise of fratboy rap like Chris Webbie and Sammy Adams. The sound was somewhat unique and sure to make the Sigma Phi parties go hard, but were empty in the end. I brushed Mac Miller off at the beginning as another frat clone, but after this mixtape got play, I started to realize his talent not only for making fun flow, but crafting songs in a variety of feels and moods. Another great carefree summer album.
Mac Miller – Donald Trump
Download the tape free and legally
6. Lupe Fiasco – Friend of The People
2011 was the year of Lupe’s dive into the mainstream with “Lasers”. The album was good and saw commercial success (Monday Night Football loves “Coming Up”), but was compromised by label pressure and the result was something Lupe himself didn’t love. Well, on Thanksgiving, Lupe dropped a mixtape unfettered by commercial demands. The result is a gathering of ferocious Lupe spits over beats from Justice, Nero, M83, and Bassnectar. This tape is great because it is so obviously singularly guided by the artist.
Lupe Fiasco – Friend of the People ft. Dosage
Download the tape free and legally
5. The Dean’s List – The Drive-In
What happens when you team up a chill kid with flow with two different producers who love hip-hop and electronica respectively, then have them come out with a mixtape about partying as a megayoung group in college? The Drive In is your answer. A Houston slow weed anthem followed by a Avicii flavored club crasher followed by a hood banger followed by a spaced out acoustic beat jam followed by…etc. This album is a ride from beginning to end, and by the end I think I can say that The Dean’s List would make any party insane. Tons of talent and potential here.
The Dean’s List – Light Up The Sky
Download the tape free and legally
4. Frank Ocean – Nostalgia, ULTRA
An album quality tape, Frank Ocean gives 14 tracks of his brand of 2012 Rn’B. Whether he’s reinventing Hotel California, crooning over sound clips of Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut, or lazily describing extreme debauchery in song of the year candidate “Novocain”, Ocean along with The Weeknd have reinvented a dead genre into something fresh and addictive. Love the cassette recording snippets throughout the song. Gives a whole new literality to the term “Mixtape”.
(Soundcloud hates on Frank Ocean uploads)
Download the tape free and legally
3. XV – Zero Heroes
One of the greatest up and coming rappers is from hip hop hotbed Wichita KS..wait what? Believe it..XV shows that being from a big rap city has nothing to do with talent. This mixtape is absolutely album quality, and showcases XV’s distinctive delivery over a wide-range of tracks. If this guy was a baseball player, he would be a five-tool player. Storytelling, interesting flow, awesome wordplay and rhyming, multiple moods and feels, and songwriting ability. Can’t wait to see what’s to come from this guy.
XV – Textbook Stuff
Download the tape free and legally
2. Childish Gambino – EP
Just five songs, but what five songs they are. Starting with possibly my favorite song of the year “Freaks and Geeks” and finishing off with four other groundbreaking tracks with Childish’s unparalleled wordplay and punchlines, this album was a perfect precursor to Childish Gambino break into the mainstream.
Childish Gambino – My Shine
Download the tape free and legally
Download the tapes free and legally
Sick. Two huge songs to make up for the draught in updates.
First off we have XV, flowing about Inception over the movies chills-inducing final scene score. (an unbelievable song in and of itself. Listen to it as you fall asleep sometime.)
(right click to download) XV – The Kick
Second, we got a lo-fi J.Cole quasi freestyle featuring Childish Gambino. Two of my current favorite rappers who approach awesome lyricism in two completely different ways on one song. Killing it. Skip past the scrub rapping at the beginning to hear bigness. Its about time Childish found his way on a feature. Look for him to really blow up in 2012.
(right click to download) J.Cole – Who Dat V.2 (Ft. SD and Childish Gambino)
Bars & Pickups 