mixtape maestro (2.0)

When you think “gutta”, sparkly disco anthems about one’s love for the rhythm aren’t the first thing to enter the mind, but for the title track to DJ Khaled find Ace Hood’s debut album, the meshing of Studio 54 excess and street bravado make for an ideal banger recipe.

A triumphal sample of Vicki Sue Robinson’s ’76 classic “Turn The Beat Around” is tricked out with rumbling Southern rap beat tricks here, conjuring up this irresistible sense of epic urgency as Hood and track-mate Trick Daddy both pummel the eardrums with their breathless claims of street-aligned superiority. Between rapid-fire verses dripping with been-there-heard-that thug-chismo, the track’s winning, don’t-give-a-(what!!) hook proudly rings: “I’m gutta than a mothafucka”, and for those not all that convinced, they’re encouraged to set up an appointment and see it proven out via a clique-backed beatdown.

Now Ace Hood might still be a hopelessly generic rapper who most likely won’t at all be remembered in a couple years time (no matter how many over-crowded posse cuts Khaled pushes him on in the interim), but with “Gutta”, he’s definitely stumbled onto something that deserves more than a couple repeated spins, if only for it’s enticing ghetto-style adopting of an old-school dance favorite.

DL: “Gutta” (alt)

First presented as a chugging, acoustic rock ballad on the original Swedish edition of Robyn’s critically-slobbered over self-titled triumph before being updated into a sharper, Euro-dance pop confection for the album’s international drop, “Bum Like You”, Robyn’s canny “I’m in love with a scrub” ditty, has now been re-worked yet again for inclusion on, wait for it…ONE MORE RE-RELEASE of the three-year old project (Talk about stretching out a good thing).

This time around, Robyn isn’t found alone in her questionable (yet so relatable) infatuation with average-looking deadbeats; featured guest Snoop Dogg pays her back for her work on the Fyre Department remix of “Sensual Seduction” from earlier this year, instilling himself within “Bum”‘s clubby fizz for a little hook harmonizing before relating his own inability to eject a certain mooch-ess out of his heart: “You got no job/ No life/ It’s so wrong/ But it’s so right…”.

It’s an okay additional thirty seconds of new material that Robyn fanatics will surely eat up, but all these revisions don’t hide the fact that as much as she’s universally adored, the singer really needs to finally put Robyn to bed and start working on the next full-length project.

DL: “Bum Like You (Remix)” (alt)

Perfectly capturing the wintry gloom that lurks around the calendar corner in it’s wistful, alt-country melancholy, Canadian singer-songwriter Hayden‘s somber “Barely Friends” rides atop an endless roll of down-home twang, it’s steady strums and touches of harmonica and distant pedal-steel serving an effective backdrop to his internal rue.

What’s suddenly got the guy in such a miserable state of mind that he can barely utter lyrics above a shameful mumble? The sighting of a former flame the week before, which instantly shot wince-inducing memories of how their union went awry back to the surface. “The truth is you just weren’t the one”, he can admit…now. But way back when, he could only muster up a series of weak lies as explanation for why they couldn’t be; in the end, he now realizes, probably hurting her far more than if he had just confessed to her the real reason he was breaking things off in the first place.

Overwhelmed with wanting to right the past wrong (both to mend a heart he left torn and assuage his own guilty conscience), Hayden ponders over whether he should have just walked up to her and informed her of the long-held truth when he happened upon her that night, perhaps opening conversation up by oh-so-”smoothly” fibbing about how fetching she looked when fixed against the star-lit skies before dishing out a lengthy apology concerning the way he dismissed her all that time ago. Alas he didn’t, and that decision now has him facing an entire future overcast with an even weightier sense of regret.

A beautiful slice of intimate, folk-baked songcraft, “Barely Friends” proves that sometimes it’s the heartbreak-ER that can ultimately end up the bigger loser.

From Hayden’s latest album, In Field & Town.

DL: “Barely Friends” (alt)

On his TIT-illating new cut “Punch Drunk Love”, Common leap-frogs away from the addicting, Bambaataa-influenced B-boy-isms of preceding single “Universal Mind Control” to get all “LL Cool J” on the ladies with assistance from pals the Neptunes and Kanye West

Heavy on near-eye-rolling lines like “You can call me Daddy/ I’m a put you to bed” and “I come from Chi-ca/ So in I go”, “Love” doesn’t really rank among Common’s lyrical best (though he does get a couple of clever points for “we exchange like students cause I study a-broad”) but it’s a fine sex-rap entry nonetheless, mostly thanks to the production’s lightly knocking, slow groove R&B stew and Pharrell’s very Teddy Riley-like, vocoder-enhanced solo towards the end. Plus, it’s always nice to hear a non-robo-voiced West anywhere these days, even if he is somewhat disappointingly relegated to just handling the hook duties here.

Still, for a better glimpse of Common-as-horn-dog, a re-listen to 2005′s sublime-and-sexy “Go” (also featuring an abbreviated cameo from Kanye) is recommended.

From Common’s upcoming, Universal Mind Control, due December 9th.

DL: “Punch Drunk Love” (alt)

Flooded with references to such ’90′s-teen fads/ treasures as overalls with “one shoulder strap swingin’”, Nickelodeon’s Doug, head-to-toe Tommy Hilfiger sportage and high-top fades, “Walmart”, from Akron, Ohio rapper (slash-blogger) Shawn Collins (aka “The Batman of Rap”), offers plenty of “I REMEMBER THAT”-inducing nostalgia for anyone who took the time to memorize all the words to Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” during it’s seemingly eternal radio reign.

Over a backing track that swings from minimalist boom-bap on the verses to sing-songy bubblegum for the hook, Collins’ every-man flow indulges in the “golden” days’ of his youth. Some of the recalled memories might be a little sad (back then, the ladies gave him no play) and some are just downright embarrassing (at one point, he admits to having a bowl-cut), but you couldn’t tell him he wasn’t fly, with his paint-chipped No Limit chain, beloved Tamagotchi pet and Space Jam soundtrack-backed hoop-shooting sessions.

Part “I Love The 90″‘s in rap form, part diss to that one hater chick who “said I wasn’t quite her type” (“Now she works at a Walmart,” he sneer-chimes in the hook), the chuckles-worthy “Walmart” will surely be appreciated by anyone who spent their post-school day afternoons faithfully tuned in to what alien creature those heroic Power Rangers would have to face next.

DL: “Walmart” (alt)

To make more effective an ex-boyfriend’s envy towards you dancing with another man (and further pummel in his brain the point that you’re super-irate that your finger is still ring-less), you must REALLY pull out some heavy sweat-inducing stripper moves. To help that along, Alas Astor has laced the already bop-periffic “Single Ladies” with an even more energetic bounce.

Bobbing 8-bit video game-y synths and an addictive whip-crack beat shuffle frame this likable dance redux; just try not to sprain your wrist trying to quickly swivel your bling-free hand (in a nod to “Ladies” signature dance move) to it’s rapid-paced beat.

DL: “Single Ladies (Alan Astor Remix)” (alt)

A Belgian singer-songwriter remaking a 50 Cent/ JT/ Timbaland strip club jam in the form of an acoustic ballad strum-along!?! And it works (maybe even better than the original)!?! 26-year-old Milow accomplishes just that with this striking entry.

One of the original “Ayo Technology”‘s biggest flaws was that the sheer weight of the A-list crew behind it (pre-establishing it as a hit before it even dropped) sort of distracted away from the scary-cool intricacies of what the song could really be about: a tale of an introverted porn-addict on the verge of randy implosion at the mouth-drying gyrations of the talented pole dancer in front of him and how seeing her in a three-dimensional form could inform some dastardly deed later on. Neither 50 nor Justin could really be all that believable in bringing that creepy role to life since at the end of the day, they probably would get the girl to their respective cribs to bring their private fantasies to fruition with little to no hesitation.

For the relatively unknown Milow, that option isn’t there, so his take on “Technology” lends itself easier to the song’s inherent skin-crawling air, his every-man vocal yearns (and nerdy adoption of Fiddy’s “make it rain” prose) against the guitar-lain frame conveying the spooky intimacy of a computer screen ogler tracking down his ideal porn beauty at the local strip joint and mind-conjuring up some nefarious after-hours plot that involves him following his target to her home and really finding out “just how it be/ On top of me/ Backstokin’, sweat soakin’”. When he sings “I’ll be in this bitch ’til the club close” or howls “I’m tired of using technology/ I need you right in front of me”, the creepy desperation in his vocal paints him as a haunting figure who’s en route to doing something really really wrong.

Now if only we could get him to do a whole entire album’s worth of 50 Cent remakes; could you imagine how much more menacing tunes like “Wanksta” or “Many Men” would sound “unplugged”?

DL: “Ayo Technology (50 Cent Cover)” (alt)

In which Jones “swagger”-jacks TI (who had, in turn, “swagger”-jacked M.I.A., who had ultimately swagger-jacked The Clash) all for the sole purpose of re-polishing his tireless complaint against the swag-lite emcee, especially ones who blasphemously mix Gucci belts and Louis Vuitton scarves (Jay, how dare you!!!).

But it’s Jim who clearly needs to be stopped after hearing this inferior take on Tip’s star-studded posse cut. Beyond a mildly appreciable re-manufactured beat (Bye-bye, bouncy shuffle; Hello, ominous street grind) and a typically killer (albeit a bid misplaced) Twista sixteen, “Swagger From Us” offers little justification as to why we should want to hear that sole M.I.A. line looped three hundred more times:

-Original “SLU” feature Lil’ Wayne pops up again here for the jump-off verse (what is he, like some hip hop double agent?) which, while thankfully doing away with his painful Auto-Tune obsession, ends up being another file in his increasingly bulging “fine, but needless, cameo” folder.

-Jones might kick off his portion with a quasi-SNAP!-worthy schoolyard sniff (“I don’t know what corner they from/ We from them corners that do it/ On my corners we make swag/ And we sell it to y’all…”); but, alas, it still holds that he doesn’t hail from the corners that teaches cats how to rap good.

-Then, there’s the much-talked about Byrdgang/ Dipset signee NOE, a quite promising Baltimore up-and-comer who delivers some good lyrical stuff here, yet remains hampered by the hard-to-ignore fact that he SOUNDS JUST LIKE JAY!! That unfortunate aspect of his mic presence takes even more wind out of Jones’ “SFU” sail, as it only re-presents the question of who’s actually swag-jacking who here?

Some advice for Jim? Give up this losing battle once and for all and stick to focusing on something that’s actually working in your favor.

DL: “Swagger From Us” (alt)

Capping off at a disappointing #44 on the R&B singles chart (and failing to even land on the pop listings), Solange’s “I Decided”, a 2008 highlight that provided the young singer’s best chance of finally moving out from up under her big sis’ ever-looming shadow, deserved much better. Thankfully, she hasn’t completely given up on making sure it reaches as many audiences as possible.

Following the still-solid original form and it’s sequel, a bombastic Freemasons-handled revision aimed for the UK/ club scene, a third re-working sees “I Decided” attached to a slight hip hop-like feel. But don’t fret, Solange hasn’t needlessly ventured down a “crunk & b” route. No, the track’s effervescent, Supremes-meets-Vandellas classic girl group twinkle remains; it’s just now filtered through a jazzy, horn-accented stomp you could imagine those Outkast boys (or, at least Andre 3000) freaking to and featuring a satisfyingly mindless cameo from Snoop (one of the few, if only emcees, who could rhyme “Pick your ‘fro” with “Do-si-do” and make it sound so effortlessly cool).

DL: “I Decided (G-Mix)” (alt)

For this remix to future pop sensation Colin Munroe‘s uber-catchy new single “Will I Stay”, a DC-born mixtape phenom and one of R&B’s biggest producers of the ’90′s are brought on board, tinkering enough with the ditty to help garner it some more attention without completely siphoning out it’s original pop appeal.

Now, those sunny guitar lines that provide the track’s winning musical hook have been tricked out with synthesized elfin-voice embellishments, while Munroe has gained a sympathizing bud in wordplay wiz Wale, who’s busy trapped within his own relationship paradox (“She don’t really love me and I feel the same/ A love-less relationship but we scared to say/ And this game we play/ Is a lot like spades/ A heart means nothing with two jokers in the way”).

Set for inclusion on Munroe’s new mixtape, Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero (due December 1st), “Will I Stay (Remix)” provides yet another reason why this multi-talent deserves your (legal) copping consideration when his official debut full-length drops in the new year.

DL: “Will I Stay (Remix)” (alt)