mixtape maestro (2.0)

King Most has the right idea.

If Andre 3000 persists on only dropping these random, one verse teases instead of the full length solo jams we’ve been begging for for damn near ever, why not just merge a few of them together into something longer than sixty seconds so we can at least pretend like we’re getting a full Three Stacks joint.

On this satisfying mix, Most takes the sixteen and instrumental from recent snippet leak “I Do” and attaches bits of Andre’s work from Devin The Dude’s “What A Job” and the DJ Drama/ Outkast cut “The Art of Storytellin’ Part 4″.

Much appreciated, King. Your move now, Dre.

Andre 3000 – I Do (King Most Mix)

It was only a matter of time before the suddenly on-the-verge-of-ubiquity again R. Kelly would attach himself to “Birthday Sex”. The recently chart-topping Jeremih bedroom jam felt like a second-rate Kells number from the get-go, so it comes as no surprise that the tune would be touched upon for the upcoming R. Kelly/ DJ Skee/ DJ Drama mixtape collaboration The Demo Tape.

Unfortunately, this remix doesn’t really gift us with the over-the-top raunch we were praying for (proving our long-held fears that Kells really has run out of the outlandish XXX-rated ideas we’ve admired from him for so long), but it’s ultimately more satisfying than Demo‘s previous drop, a somewhat meh remix of Drake’s “Best I Ever Had”, managing to keep us mildly amused with Robert’s immediate dismissal of his girl’s galpal (aka: “That bitch on defense”) and laughing off of tried-and-true ‘birthday sex’ tactics (he doesn’t do jumping out of cakes!!).

Snatch up the (tagged) joint below:

DL: “Birthday Sex (DJ Skee Mix)” (alt)

There’s nothing truer than the line “We’ll Always Love Big Poppa”, but is there a real need for yet another tribute project to celebrate the late, great rap icon? More often than not, hip hop heads are left scratching their…well, heads wondering if Biggie would’ve even wanted to share a track with the many rap figures that have aligned themselves to these things in the past. It doesn’t help that since the man didn’t have this endless well of material, we’re forced to hear the same verses chopped up over and over and plopped (a lot of the times, awkwardly) over hot-for-the-moment beats.

That being said, DJ Drama and production team Cookin’ Soul‘s new mixtape, The Notorious BIG Tribute, ends up a satisfying listen, thanks to it’s exciting guest star roster (including Styles P, CL Smooth, Smif N Wessun’s Tek, Grafh, Chaundon) and the clever way original sample sources are re-tweaked, giving a brand new polish to the classic Biggie records we’ve held so dear. Here’s a couple of the collection’s highlights, fronted by two of today’s hottest “fem-cees”, below:

Amanda Diva‘s seamless rap-sung swagger adds a refined glaze to her take on Junior MAFIA’s “Get Money”, flipping the Sylvia Striplin-sampling 1995 hit into a educating message to all the ladies out there who’ve had their once-promising lives hit the toilet at the hands of a beau.

“I’ve seen it happen time and time again/ Women with a plan side-tracked by a man/ Personal life gets trifling/ And just like that, them goals fall flat,” Diva shakes her head in annoyance, later peppering in a lil’ Lil’ Kim shout-out with the matter-of-fact assertion that her feminist stance should in no way be equated to any homosexual reveal (“This flow ain’t sayin’ I’m a lesbo”).

DL: “Get Money (Amanda Diva)” (alt)

A few tracks later, the always excellent Jean Grae reminds the (sadly still) few that know why she’s “sicker than yo average” with the way she effortlessly cruises through a “Hypnotize” re-vamp, twisting familiar Biggie lines to support her own sharpened braggadocio as the Cookin’ Soul crew finally allow the less-championed, silkier portions of Herb Alpert’s “Rise” a shot in the spotlight.

DL: “Hypnotize (Jean Grae)” (alt)

Cop the rest of the mixtape here