The Urban Feed

–Tre Banks
The Urban Feed

The highly anticipated XXL Magazine’s Freshman Class has released, having become one of the biggest debates in the rap world and blogosphere, predicting the future Kings of Hip Hop. The esteemed top ten list has held names such as Lupe Fiasco, Asher Roth, Kid Cudi, Plies, Wale, and many other successful young artists. However, XXL has been very accurate with their list, and any artist that makes the cover/list has a very high chance of succeeding in the Rap game.

Jay Rock, Pill, Nipsey Hussle, Fashawn, Freddie Gibbs, Wiz Khalifa, J.Cole, Big Sean, Donnis, and the controversial OJ Da Juiceman, members of the new class were revealed one by one through video footage including freestyles displaying the talents of each artists, with the exception of OJ Da Juiceman. Although certain artists in the class have already grabbed a huge fan base, such as Wiz Khalifa, J. Cole, and Big Sean, OJ da Juiceman is also an artist whose fan base is already pretty wide his hit single, “Make The Trap Say Ay.”

Hosted by DJ Whoo Kid, “10 For Freshman ‘10″ gave each artist an opportunity to be heard, and hopefully spring an interest in fans to search for more of their music. Tracks placed on the mixtape by J. Cole and Big Sean seemed to be lazy records that had not been released because it wasn’t their best work. In which would be okay for these two artists, due to their already recognized talents. However, artists such as Pill and Donnis both proved that they have the potential to blow up in the near future. Nipsey Hussle who also has a pretty big fan base, displayed his raw West coast vibe that he is loved for. OJ Da Juiceman presented the mixtape with two very simple songs, so if your looking for lyricism, you may not want to listen to either of his tracks. As for the other artists, they presented teasers to who they are. XXL picks very talented artists, and whether one likes the music that is presented through the mixtape, one should look into projects from each artist.

Notable Tracks:

Pill-Angels Freestyle
J.Cole- Who’s World Is This
Fashawn – So Hard Freestyle
Final Grade- B

Popularity: 2% [?]

“WORTH THE WAIT?”
The highly anticipated Gangsta Grillz Mixtape from Brooklyn’s own Fabolous has finally dropped. Fabolous a.k.a Loso is at it again with There is No Competition 2 (The Funeral service), hosted by DJ Drama; featuring appearances from Nicki Minaj, Camron, Trey Songz, and Lloyd Banks and more.

After one too many push back dates, hip hop fans all over expected only the absolute best out of the new mixtape. Frustration grew, as did the date of the mixtape release. Finally the public received the highly anticipated mixtape, now the remaining question “was it worth the wait?”

Fabolous starts off the mixtape apologizing for the delay, and promising that he will kill all competition throughout the mixtape. Death and murder are the themes of the mixtape, however they don’t seem to give prominence in a time where gangsta rap is quite stale in hip hop game. Since Fabolous tends to rap violently throughout the mixtape, the listener may tend to get bored. Nevertheless, Loso brings the clever punchlines that he has built his career on, keeping most listeners amused with the punchlines. Also his features hold their own on the mixtape, keeping the listener interested in a mixtape that is based on violence song after song. A highlight of the mixtape was the combination of Fabolous and Trey Songz over the “All the Way Turnt up” instrumental. Both of the artist came hard, putting together a Dope remix. “For the Money,”featuring Nicki Minaj is also a highlight of the mixtape.

Each track is nice, but expect nothing above average from Fabolous. He can’t put out a bad mixtape because he is a solid artist, and any fan of Fab himself, lyricsm, or punchline rap would agree that this is a very solid mixtape. Only problem, is that when you build up such great anticipation for your product, you must be able to surprise your consumers, in this case Fabolous didn’t.

Final Grade: C+
Notable Tracks: Say Something, Tonight, I’m Raw
-Tre Banks
The Urban Feed

Popularity: 3% [?]

Lil Wayne—No Ceilings

No auto-tune.

Just Wayne.

Not quite lyrical as Dedication, but slightly exceeds the content of Da Drought; No Ceilings seems to be in a classic category of its own. Hot out the booth, the early release of Lil Wayne’s latest mixtape No Ceilings has got the internet going nuts. The soon to be convict, has been releasing a plethora of songs lately outside of this mixtape and one can only wonder, is he doing this because he is soon to be locked up? Whatever the case may be, No Ceilings is a great addition to the long list of mixtapes that seems to be continuously flooding iTunes near you.

Lil Wayne has taken an artistic step back with his latest mixtape, as he explores the sound that he once possessed. He starts off the tape just right as he goes in over “Swag Surfin’,” which lets his fans know that he is from New Orleans and intends to play no games. Not only does Mr. Carter remember his roots with his newest mixtape, he eliminates his infatuation with auto-tune. With tracks such as Wetter, one may assume that he would flood the song with his distracting vocals. However, Wayne does just the opposite and has his newest addition to Young Money, Shanell, sing the chorus, “Imma make it Wayne down on me”. This Grammy nominated artist has also humbled himself with Interlude, Interlude #2 and Outro as he takes the time to address his fans and thank them all.

Due to Wayne’s recent love for auto-tune, he may have lost a significant amount of fans. Fortunately, No Ceilings has the artistic ability to bring back all of the fans that Wayne may have lost over the last year and makes fans fall in love with him all over again. His massacre of the “Run This Town” instrumental can solely make any Wayne hater fall to their feet, as his delivery over the popular production exceeds all previous verses over the track. Mr. Carter also decides to dive into D.O.A and virtually kills every notion that he needs auto tune to feel important. Each track contains the special “it” factor that Wayne has, and it appears that no matter how far ahead Wayne gets, he is always able to bring himself back to his beastly ways.

Unfortunately, there were a few unnecessary tracks on the highly anticipated mixtape. Tracks such as “I Think I Love Her” and “I’m Good” do no justice for his latest mixtape. Both tracks seem to lack the quality that every other track posses, and could have been left alone. Fortunately, his classic flow over “Watch My Shoes” over shines any flaw that No Ceilings contains. Interestingly enough, Wayne’s hidden accent seems to sneak its way into his flow over Watch My Shoes, as he delivers a flow that could belong on 500 Degreez.

No Ceilings is expected to be one of Lil Wayne’s most download mixtapes, and will surely be on every Lil Wayne fan’s playlist, because this refreshing mixtape is reminiscent of everything Wayne stands for. No autotune. No rock. Just Wayne.

“I’m a New Orleans n***a, I don’t take no s**t”—Lil Wayne

Grade: B-

Best Tracks:

1. Wetter
2. Throw it In the Bag
3. Run This Town

Saidah Anderson
Contributing Writer
The Urban Feed

Popularity: 10% [?]