Bill- Vagrant MIXTAPE REVIEW

Today I am bringing you a review of Vagrant, a new mixtape by Pittsburgh rapper Bill. I found out about this guy after hearing him spit a verse on Mac Miller's Delusional Thomas project from last year. He was not amazing or mind-blowing, but the dude had some natural talent. I was pretty excited to give this a listen after finding out about it. How will Bill's first ever project sound?

Starting with the rapping, Bill can really spit. This guy just has all the skills necessary to catch my ear on a song. He has pretty much everything except an ear-grabbing or unique voice. Where Bill shines is in flow and lyricism. His flow and delivery are both really solid, and there are never any unsmooth moments on this mixtape. He just flows nicely, and manages to switch it up a lot. This guy will never flow with mind-blowing technical ability, but he manages to sound like a veteran on these tracks. The one thing that sets Bill apart from many others are his lyrics. He comes in with some really odd and unique lines all over this tape. His vocabulary is pretty advanced and he just says things that stick in my mind. One small complaint I have with this is its song structures. All of them are pretty much the same, with Bill just straight rapping for about two minutes. If theres a feature on the song, then they have a verse, but its not like there are any hooks or bridges here. This isn't a terrible thing because Bill is interesting enough, but I wish he changed it up a little bit. My favorite songs here are Vagrant, Rampage, Villain, and Raw Product. A disappointment on this mixtape was the song Campfire. I was anticipating this because it featured Mac Miller and Ab-Soul, but it ended up sounding too boring and slow. I've also heard Mac and Ab-Soul spit way better verses before. Overall though, its hard to complain about Bill's performance on Vagrant. He spits pretty consistently all the way through.

The beats on Vagrant are pretty interesting, to say the least. A lot of these instrumentals are dense, with a lot of different musical things going on. Many of these also utilize some unique sounds and noises mixed into the beats. They do have an ongoing dark vibe that is pretty consistent throughout the project, but that is the only thing they have in common. I would say these beats match Bill's rapping pretty well, as the dark nature of the instrumentals match the dark nature of Bill's lyrics. One beat in particular that caught my attention the second I heard it was Villain. This one did a great job of setting the vibe, and it was incredibly melodic and catchy. Some of my other favorites were Vagrant, McGruff, and Campfire. The latter was interesting especially because of how it related to the title. The quiet guitar beat definitely reminded me of someone playing around a camp fire. The beats on this tape were just as consistent as the rapping, with all of them bringing something different, but none of them failing at these risks. None were mind-blowing, but they were all solid.

VAGRANT WRAP-UP
+Bill is an skilled rapper, flow and lyric-wise
+He'll spit some unique lines every once in a while
+Has the talent to carry a straight, no hook type of song
+Great beats, some pretty interesting ones
-Disappointing features
-Doesn't change up the song structures
-Nothing really amazing or memorable, everything is just solid

Best: Vagrant, Villain, Raw Product

Worst: No IOU's

Bill- Vagrant
7.5/10

Onyx- Wakedafucup ALBUM REVIEW

My review today will be about the new album from Onyx, Wakedafucup. Onyx is a veteran New York rap group, and it has been a whopping ten years since their last album. Onyx has always been known in the hip-hop scene for their sheer aggressiveness. Nothing these guys do would ever be called soft, as they go over some the hardest hitting, grimiest beats ever. Plus, Fredro Starr and Sticky Fingaz have some really energetic, attention-grabbing voices. Will Onyx complete their comeback with an awesome studio album?

After giving this project multiple listens, I can safely say I was disappointed. Onyx didn't come through with what I wanted here. While i had a lot of problems with this album, let's talk about what I liked with it. First of all, Onyx sure does know how to make an energetic track. Every song here, whether or not its a good song, will bring the energy and hype you up. These guys yell pretty much all the choruses here, and its just very attention grabbing. My favorite hooks are on The Tunnel, Hustlin Hour, and Whut Whut. I also liked the features on this album. I felt that the songs with features were much better than the ones without, in terms of rapping. The two features I was looking forward to were ASAP Ferg and Sean Price, who were on the track We Don't Fuckin Care. They didn't disappoint, as Ferg may have spit the best verse I've ever heard from him. His flow was on points and his voice came off really unique. It was just a creative verse from Ferg, and I loved it. As far as Sean Price, you know what you will get from him, and he supplied it with his verse. It was the features I wasn't looking forward to, though, that really surprised me, particularly Cormega and Papoose. These two showed up on the track The Tunnel, and both of them killed it, as I loved both the verses. Papoose's verse was an awesome way to end the song. Finally, I thought Reks had a solid contribution to the song One 4 da Team. The features here were consistent, and if not for them, the album wouldve really suffered.

Now it's time to talk about the things I didn't like. Unfortunately, like i said before, this album was a disappointing listen. My main problem is the severe lack of variety. All these songs followed the same formula: A sometimes catchy hook, a Fredro Starr verse, then the hook again, then a Sticky Fingaz verse. They never changed it up. This was why I loved the features so much on this album, because they broke up the monotony. As for these two as MCs, they are nothing like what they used to be. At this point, they are just sounding old. Fredro's verses are straight out of the early 2000s, and I feel Sticky Fingaz was trying a little too hard on many songs here. He is just sounding a little too crazy, to the point where I really get tired of hearing it. Lyrically, these guys came off a little corny, too. As far as production goes, there is not much to say. The Snowgoons put together some very outdated and boring beats, in my opinion. The only beats I liked here were Buc Bac, Wakedafucup, and We Don't Fuckin Care. These were not great, but at least they were a little different and unique. I feel like I wouldn't be able to tell these songs apart if there was no rapping on them.

WAKEDAFUCUP WRAP UP
+Some catchy, energetic hooks
+Solid guest verses, they brought a lot to the album
-Repetitive song structures
-Rapping was very average from Onyx
-Production was outdated and boring

Best: We Don't Fuckin Care, Hustlin Hour, The Tunnel

Worst: Trust No Bitch

Onyx- Wakedafucup
5.6/10

Curren$y- The Drive In Theatre MIXTAPE REVIEW

Today, I am reviewing Curren$y's new mixtape, The Drive in Theatre. Curren$y is a New Orleans rapper who has built up a pretty strong underground following, as he has put out a handful of albums and mixtapes. My favorite project of his is 2011's Covert Coup, which was fully produced by The Alchemist. I like Curren$y, and I've always thought that his slow, lazy flow works for him. It doesn't hurt that he always spits over some great instrumentals. How will Curren$y's new mixtape, The Drive in Theatre, go over with me?

To start off with the production, Drive in Theatre had pretty solid beats overall. Most of them will not blow you away, but they do a good job of setting the mood. The vibe of this mixtape is that is is very relaxed. Seriously, this is the most laid-back project I have heard this whole year. Whenever I just feel like kicking back and relaxing, this is the perfect music to throw on. A lot of the beats on this album are done by Thelonious Martin, a producer who I am really starting to like. He had some nice beats on Retch's new mixtape, but you really get to see his full arsenal on Drive In Theatre. My favorite beat is definitely M.P.R. This one starts with some cloudy, airy synths, which set the atmosphere of the track. Martin then mixes in some old-school electric guitars to create something very unique and creative. I loved it. Martin's other highlights on this tape come from the tracks E.T., Stolen, and High Top Whites. I chose those three just because I like how old-school they are, but also the fact that they have some sort of new-school twist. The closer to this tape, The Usual Suspects, also had an awesome instrumental. It was elegant, and just sounded very polished and clean. Overall, the production here was not incredible, but it did its job of setting a relaxed, smooth, chilled-out vibe. I definitely enjoyed it.

As for Curren$y's performance, he is very consistent, but almost to a fault. Don't get me wrong, I love the way this guy raps. He rides beats perfectly with his very lazy and relaxed flow, while delivering nice lyrics and solid punchlines as well. I also think this guy is unique, as he often utilizes his heavy Southern drawl while he spits. I felt that on this mixtape, though, Curren$y didn't bring something new to the table with the songs. He doesn't really change up his flow, and he always sounds the same. If not for the features and production, that probably would have ruined the album for me. Curren$y just didn't have much charisma on the mic. I can, however, give him props for helping set the relaxed mood of the mixtape. If you're gonna make laid-back music, this is the guy you want rapping. He did have some lyrical tracks on here, such as Vintage Vineyard, Hi Top Whites, and 10 G'S. All of these had a distinct topic, which I like. Features on this tape were excellent. Curren$y had three off my favorite rappers here, and they delivered. Action Bronson sounded great on Godfather Four, and Freddie Gibbs killed it on Grew Up In This, of course. Smoke DZA also had the best verse on the posse cut that ended the album, The Usual Suspects. While I knew those would be good, there was one feature that really shocked me, B-Real on E.T. At 43, the Cypress Hill rapper delivered an awesome verse. He used his wacky voice to his advantage and his flow was impressive. I loved how such an animated rapper was able to fit such a relaxed beat. Props to B-Real. Overall, Curren$y got a little boring by the end, but the features really picked up the slack.

THE DRIVE IN THEATRE WRAP UP
+Laid-back, relaxed, chill vibe to the whole thing
+Instrumentals were very good, set the mood of the tape
+Curren$y helped set the vibe too, his flow and lyrics were consistent
+Terrific feature verses
-Curren$y didn't change up anything with his rapping

Best: E.T,  M.P.R,  Grew Up In This

Worst: 10 G'S

Curren$y- The Drive In Theatre
8.0/10