mixtape maestro (2.0)

If Kanye calls you out as having the potential to be the second G.O.A.T. (behind Eminem, of course), best believe when he calls upon you to bless one of his tracks, the “it” better be brought.

So with that said, it’s no surprise that Nicki Minaj would attempt to drop the best verse of her still young career on the much-talked-about Kanye & Friends posse cut joint “Monster” (from the newly announced upcoming West and Jay-Z EP, Watch The Throne); what is shocking, however, is that she would end up making the rest of her brow-raising trackmates (the song rounds together not only ‘Ye, Jigga and, in a laughably brief cameo, the BAWSE, but indie god Justin Vernon of Bon Iver is employed to play hook man) seem completely irrelevant.

Using West’s sludgy fuzz-bounce as her own personal playground, Minaj adopts like seven different voices and three different flow tempos to slice-and-dice those lesser than (“Let me get this straight/ Wait I’m the rookie?/ But my features and my shows ten times your pay?/ 50k for a verse, no album out!”) and teasingly flaunt her maybe-faux/ maybe-not bisexuality (“Besides ‘Ye, they can’t stand besides me/ I think me, you and Am should menage Friday”), in the end, bringing all kinds of truth to her early boast of “Watch the queen conquer”.

Sure, Kanye earns Runner-up Prize with his naughty-clever “sarcophagus”/ “esophagus”/ “swallow-ship” rhyme, but in her wildly animated contribution, Minaj easily steals the show, re-igniting hope that when her Pink Friday solo album does finally drop this November, it’ll feature more of this playfully raw side…

…and less of the questionable bubblegum tendencies that dominate second recent leak “Check It Out”, a will.i.am production/ duet that unnecessarily twists The Buggles’ early days of MTV hit “Video Killed The Radio Star” into a typical BEP electro-hop jam for the Top 40-loving teenybopper crowd (and will likely become one of the biggest, most inescapable, radio hits of the fall season).

Sigh, Minaj. You’re so promising, yet so frustrating.

Kanye West – Monster (feat. Rick Ross, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver)

Nicki Minaj & will.i.am – Check It Out

If there was one inescapable 2010 summer jam entry that could retain it’s massive airplay love well into the New Year with nary a gripe from us, it would be Gyptian‘s reggae-crossover smash “Hold Yuh”. We’ve probably already heard it a billion times now already, and still, the sound of Gyptian’s patois-thick horn-dog warbles atop producer Ricky Blaze‘s rinky-dink piano-based riddim manages to bring a smile to our faces.

We’re assuming Wale feels the same way, since after months of “Hold Yuh” enjoying ubiquitous radio hit status, the rapper has just now opted on using the track’s instrumental as support for his latest top-notch freestyle freebie, this one boasting nearly two and a half minutes of non-stop, off-the-dome mic fierceness (love the “A Different World” references).

DL: Wale “Hold Yuh (Freestyle)” (alt)

BONUS DL: Gyptian featuring Nicki Minaj “Hold Yuh (Remix)” (alt)

“Teqkilla” is one of those M.I.A. tracks that leave you feeling like you need to be under the influence of something to truly “get”. Yeah, that can describe most of Maya’s output, but usually we can find some element in her kooky, international music-informed art-pop patchworks to lovingly grasp onto while sober. In it’s twisted cacophony of synth blurts and bleets, dubstep-y tribal thump and chanted shout-outs to various alcoholic beverages, “Teqkilla”, /\/\ /\ Y /\‘s latest single, lacks that one magic ingredient to pull it all together and help transcend it from mad scientist studio experiment to off-kilter pop genius.

That is until this remix arrived, boasting a guest appearance from the one and only Nicki Minaj, one artist we’d strangely never thought of ever pairing M.I.A. with despite their similarities in mic…ahem, “animated-ness”. “It’s going d-d-d-d-d-down/ Everything slo-mo in the background”, launches Nicki at the beginning of a deliciously wacky verse inflected with that strange English-Jamaican accent she enjoys so much, instantly triggering wishes that she and Maya will hook up for an entire collaborative mixtape and vibe off each other’s respective eccentricity.

Hell, maybe with an added M.I.A. sixteen, “Massive Attack” would make some sort of sense.

/\/\ /\ Y /\ drops July 13th.

DL: “Teqkilla (Remix)” (alt)

Seeing as though Nicki Minaj is not only behind some of the most memorable cameo raps of the past twelve months, but is pretty much the only female rapper anyone talks about these days, it’s unfortunate that her official solo career hasn’t gotten off to such a great start.

First we had “Massive Attack”, a tuneless earache of a record that greatly deserved it’s blink-and-you-missed-it chart tenure; but to quickly follow up that flop with the not-much-better “Your Love”, a limp R&B ballad slightly re-polished from it’s original mixtape-based incarnation? What’s really going on behind the scenes?

“Your Love” is definitely a stronger bid for crossover play thanks to its smooth sampling of Annie Lennox’ 1995 Grammy-winner “No More I Love You’s” (itself, a cover of a modest mid-’80′s UK hit by English new wave duo The Lover Speaks), but the decades-old nostalgia factor can’t really rescue what’s essentially a boring number, as Nicki is heard drifting through two drab verses that express her attraction to some thug hunk she just knows she shared the greatest love of all with in previous lives (“I think I met him in the sky/ When I was a geisha he was a samurai”. Yeah, okay).

Throw in a major lack of the crazy vocal inflections and goofy one-liners we’ve come to expect from Nicki, and an ill-advised, self-squeaked hook that grows more and more grating with each repeating, and we’re left scratching our heads wondering what the hell to make of it all. Does Nicki really think that releasing what sounds to be some old Blaque outtake from the late-’90′s is really what the people are demanding of her?

Single officially drops June 1st, but in the meanwhile check out a remix of the track featuring (of all people) Flo Rida, as well as the new video for the Wayne/ Minaj Rebirth collabo “Knockout”.

DL: “Your Love (Flo Rida Remix)” (alt)

With Nicki Minaj being hyped from several corners of the Inter-Webs as the Great Female Hope of Hip Hop’s (Immediate) Future and currently enjoying major airtime as a featured collaborator on successful singles with Usher, Ludacris and her Young Money crew, you would think that for her first solo single, a stronger effort would have been made by her backers to make sure her transition from hot guest to solid lead act went over as smoothly as possible.

In other words, the last thing we would’ve expected hearing as Nicki’s intro LP jump-off would have been the extreme WTH!! that is “Massive Attack”, a Sean Garrett co-production that’s blatantly gunning for a left-of-center Missy Elliott club banger vibe but ends up landing as a confused mess.

Nicki really isn’t the problem here, actually managing to stay somewhat interesting over the first two sixteens with fierce-ish Barbie spittage like “So call me Simba little mama/ Cause Mufasa couldn’t stop a bitch/ I fly in on that choppa just to buy Balenciaga”, but what’s with all that busy clatter she’s rhyming above (A cacophonous massive attack against the eardrums with it’s militaristic/ tribal drumwork and Transformers-transforming-sounding siren synths exploding every which way but on a beat you can comfortably rock to) or the odd-patois-inflections Garrett adopts on a hook that bears little actual hookiness (and starts us re-wondering why we were ever supposed to care about this cat) or the weird detour the production takes in the bridge, suddenly deciding that it wants to be sensitive with the jarring addition of bedroom R&B pianos?

It’s a potential grower (with the Hype Williams-directed accompanying clip slightly making it go down a lil’ easier), but for now…we just don’t get it.

Just when our adoration for Gucci Mane‘s The State vs. Radric Davis-housed tribute to all things yellow (bling, rims, booty), “Lemonade”, is at an all time high (surely, we’ll have another “best Gucci Mane track ever!!” next month, but right now we can’t get enough of the track’s manic piano tinkering and chorus of children awesomely chiming “Lemon pepper wangs and a freeze cup”), Fabolous swoops down on the Bangladesh beat to give it a different excellent flip.

The track, entitled “For The Money”, is one of the immediate highlights from Fab’s newly dropped mixtape There is No Competition – Part 2: The Funeral Service and could honestly be a hit single all on it’s own, thanks to the Brooklyn emcee changing it’s lyrical focus from singular hue obsessions to one of his own favorite radio banger topics (“shawtys” with dollar signs in their eyes) while humorously revising the hook with squeaky-voiced anony-chicks begging him to “write another song for the money” to keep their high-priced lifestyle on point.

“When the money gone/ She gon’ be the fuck gone with it,” Fab preaches, sounding not as much annoyed as mildly amused by his girl’s gold-digging obviousness: “I say ‘How many pair?’/ She say ‘Who’s countin?’”. Of course, though, it’s featured guest Nicki Minaj who ends up stealing the entire track with this LOL-worthy verse capper: “I told Fab ‘Get that Michael Knight KITT Coupe/ Before I put this pussy on your chipped tooth’”.

Grab the MP3 below, than (YOU MUST!!!) peep the song that started it all: “Lemonade”/ “For The Money”‘s sample source, “Keep It Warm”, a hilarious gem by ’70′s duo Flo & Eddie (in the words of Drake, after hearing this one, you’ll definitely want to ‘thank us later’).

DL: “For The Money” (alt)

Flo & Eddie “Keep It Warm”:

DL: “Keep It Warm” (alt)

Oh Ludacris, where has your mojo gone to?

Like previous single “How Low”, the Atlanta rapper’s latest Battle of The Sexes drop “My Chick Bad” finds him once again wasting a solid, albeit elementary, vocal-tweaked hook with Auto-Pilot verses. The track’s premise, all about how his girl is better than everyone else’s, is already a tired one, but whereas Luda at his previous lyrical heights would’ve given such a been-there-done-that theme a fresh spin bulging with funny-bone-tickling one-liners, here, he comes up empty at nearly every attempt (with only a brief dig at Tiger Wood’s wife landing as semi-rewind-worthy).

Alas, “My Chick Bad” is ultimately rescued by the always-entertaining, animated pipsqueak flow of Nicki Minaj, who pops up on the tail end quickly taking home Best Couplet prize with her opening mic salvo (“Yo, now all these bitches wanna try and be my bestie/ But I take a left and leave them hanging like a testi”) while cleverly using the track’s horror-flick bassline cycles as songwriting inspiration (“It’s nightmare on Elm street and guess who’s playing Freddy?”).

Hate to say it, but this track would have been better served as a solo Nicki single instead with Luda given the one verse cameo (since that seems to be the only time he gives us his A-game these days).

Battle of The Sexes drops March 9th.

Unfortunately for Young Money soldier/ New Orleans rapper Gudda Gudda, his hood-reppin’ Guddaville cut “Always Love You” won’t win the blue ribbon prize for Best Mixtape Use of a Chopped-Up Sample of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” in 2009 (that honor remains with Theophilus London’s still-impressive track of the same name from a couple seasons back), but that doesn’t mean it’s not noteworthy.

Coolly weaving Houston’s over-long belt into a chill, Southern rap groove (with a brief shout out to the Dolly Parton original nicely tossed in in the opening seconds), Gudda’s “ALY” succeeds as a fine laidback jam that’s just begging for a summer season to attach itself to.

Plus, it gives us another reason to excitedly anticipate the forthcoming solo debut from Nicki Minaj, his increasingly likable rappress labelmate who steals the show here with a trip through memory lane, where she recalls her days as a young “Harajuku Barbie” sipping Italian Icees while running amuck through the concrete jungle of the “Capital Apple”.

Snatch up the cut below, as well as another Nicki-blessed treat: a No Ceilings-birthed remix to Beyonce’s “Sweet Dreams” (also featuring a somewhat needless Lil’ Wayne) in which she rocks the mic right with rewind-worthy references to Balloon Boy, Plaxico Burress and Slick Rick (and his eye-patch) all tucked into a single killer verse.

DL: “Always Love You” (alt)

DL: “Sweet Dreams (Remix)” (alt)

While it’s nice to see Mya resurfacing on America’s pop culture radar through her gig on the ninth season of Dancing With The Stars, on one level it’s quite sad to see the singer/ dancer’s career trajectory ending up here.

Most recent media blurbs about her may only cite her involvement in 2001′s chart-topping and Grammy-winning Moulin Rouge-backed remake of “Lady Marmalade”, but let’s not forget, Mya rolled out a slew of other noteworthy pop and R&B entries throughout the late ’90′s and early ’00′s. From solid solo entries “Case of The Ex” and “My Love Is Like…Whoa” to memorable collaborations with Jay-Z (“Best of Me (Remix)”), Beenie Man (“Girls Dem Sugar”), Blackstreet (“Take Me There”) and Pras & Ol’ Dirty Bastard (“Ghetto Supastar”), Mya was on a roll there for a bit. Unfortunately, minus the brief blinding spotlight “Marmalade” brought her, she never quite managed to fully break that ceiling to superstar status, her career (at least in the US) eventually petering out as the new millennium wore on thanks to a bunch of failed singles and behind-the-scenes business politics; her last two albums, 2007′s Liberation and 2008′s Sugar & Spice, ended up only being released in Japan.

Maybe things could turn out for the better though with Mya set to build off the attention she’s re-garnering through Dancing with the release of a new mixtape, Beauty & The Streets Vol. 1. Featured cut “Ponytail” is certainly an attention-grabber, finding Mya wrapping her soft coo around a woozy cycling of backwards-moving synth sounds, as she tries to steal male attention away from pole-wrapped strippers with some seducing moves of her own.

Self-hyping that those other women don’t have “this thing I be sitting on”, Mya challenges them to a lap-dance off, shoving one guy into a chair before requesting that he pull her mane in a ponytail and make her yell. Yeah, she kind of blows her load early as far as titillating imagery goes, with the rest of her contribution here failing to muster up anything else as lip-licking good, but at least Young Money First Lady Nicki Minaj is around to keeps things a bit interesting on the back-half with her random references to “Peggy & Al Bundy” and “Crocodile Dundee” in describing the freaky way she gets down.

DL: “Ponytail” (alt)

***BONUS DL***: “Girls Dem Sugar” (alt)

After spending the entire summer getting most of the country to sing along with their “so not for children” desire to boink every female on the planet, the over-sized Young Money clique finally get around to releasing a new single with “Bedrock”, and as a repeat of previous single “Every Girl”‘s winning recipe of radio-(and summer-)friendly production with horn-ball lyrics (though this time with a couple more YM employees and solo R&B crooner Lloyd added into the mix), and an upgrade from the previously leaked incarnation “Girl You Know” (that earlier take featured a slightly different Wayne verse and brief Young Money member Omarion horribly straining his way through an inferior hook), it mostly succeeds in laying the path for another full season of airplay domination.

Supported by a Kane Beatz-helmed…um, beat that’s damn near worth the price of admission alone, conjuring up this candy-coated sense of vertigo with it’s ear-tickling loop of rapidly tip-toeing keyboard/ synth work, “Bedrock” unfortunately gets off to a lame start with un-inspiring opening verse contributions from Weezy (definitely texting it in here) and Gudda Gudda, who comes up shamefully flat on at least two occasions (“I see me with her/ No Stevie Wonder” + “I got her nigga/…Grocery bag” = someone needs to retake Clever Rap Punchlines 101).

But following that introductory misfire, “Bedrock” quickly rights itself with good-to-great lyrical turns from Drake (“I love your sushi rolls/ Hotter then wasabi”), Tyga and Lil’ Kim sequel/ token female member Nicki Minaj (her squeaky voice may be edge-of-annoying, but damn if it doesn’t sound good hosting lines like “Maybe it’s time to put this pussy on your sideburns”) as well as the usually reliable Lloyd hiccuping “Call me Mr. Flintstone/ I can make your bed rock girl” in that weightless, “sixth member of New Edition circa ‘Candy Girl’” tone of his.

Hear the cut below, followed by “A.D.I.D.A.S”, a Soulja Boy-esque mixtape entry from Georgia rapper Travis Porter that was the original holder of “Bedrock”‘s contagious beat.

DL: “Bedrock” (alt)

DL: “A.D.I.D.A.S.” (alt)