Check This Out

This site doesn’t need the whole clichéd ‘reviewing column’ so instead I’m just going to talk about good hip-hop music whenever it rears it’s reclusive form. Of course the talk of this month is ‘The Carter III’ so I’ll refrain from talking about Weezy…but ‘Let The Beat Build’ rocks out.

Wale entered my radar through the Roots new album (you know, ‘The Roots Song That Wale Is On’) and his ‘Mixtape about Nothing’ is impressive. The song with Bun-B and Pusha T hits hard, and Wale impresses a lot more than on the Roots album. The other highlights include Wale’s take on Meth’s ‘All I Need’ and the Roc Boys freestyle. Wale shows his sense of humour all over this mixtape, and gives fans a reason to check his releases in the future. This mixtape is highly recommended.

I’ve been complaining about Nas’ subject matter of late but the ‘Nigger’ mixtape is impressive. The songs which have been enjoyable but there’s been a self-righteous KRS-One tint to them which has ruined any replay value. The mixtape has similar downfalls but for anyone looking forward to the new Nas album should get this as a warm up. Hopefully there will be at least one great anthem on the new album, and no song with Kelis, but that may be too much to ask.




Also out this week is Little Brother’s ‘And Justus For All’ minus the skits and DJ. Anybody who heard the mixtape last year will already be familiar with this tracks, but just like Joe Budden’s ‘Mood Muzik’ series, it always sounds better without the DJ shouting all over the tracks. As well as the RJD2 produced “Best Kept Secret”, “Can’t Stop Us” with Chaundon is impressive and Little Brother prove they’re far from lost without the increasingly stale 9th Wonder. After hearing ‘Black Light Special’ last month, a new Little Brother album is definitely something to look out for.