First off I want to give props to Spitta for all this good mixtape music he has been dropping on us for free lately. Now I am not critiquing mixtapes on the same criteria I use for albums (See my MBDTW review). The biggest thing I am looking for in mixtapes is that the artist is expressing themselves and giving us original music. I do not have a problem with using some beats people already made, everyone has their own take on a beat or idea so those songs can be better than the original sometimes. However original production is nice and of course I am looking for the artist to either be trying a new style that works or expanding their current style.
Curren$y takes the route of a mixtape for his fans completely produced by Alchemist, which I believe he did a grade A job on by the way. Songs like BBS, The Type, Life Instructions, and Double are typical Currensy sounding beats but Alchemist shows us that he can not only produce for people like Eminem and Slaughterhouse, but also for MC’s with a style more in the likes of Curren$y and Smoke DZA who did his thing on Life Instructions. My three favorite tracks would have to be Scottie Pippens, Double 07 and Full Metal. All different from the usual Spitta production you hear, and I like that.
Spitta has given us another mixtape this year in addition to Return to the Winners Circle and this one I give a 4 star rating, my only knock was that he did nothing to try and really expand his style but its a great album for his fans and he did show that he can kill beats that are not typically used in his repertoire. So support him and buy #JetsGo, available here, for all of the free CD quality material he has given us. Also when Pilot Talk 3 and his other projects come out later this year don’t forget to BUY them and support REAL hip-hop! It looks like Warner Bros. has some promising signings in Curren$y and XV whose mixtape Zero Heroes I will be reviewing Friday so don’t forget to keep checking back!
Download:Curren$y x The Alchemist - Covert Coup.zip
