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Mixtape Review: The N----- Tape


Bob

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I apologize first and foremost for over-hyping Nas the past week.

With that out of the way, I had no intention of doing a mixtape review, but for the first time in 3 full years, I can say: The MIXTAPE IS BACK!!!!

Green Lantern and Nas must have been living under a rock, because in today's hip hop you NEVER:

1.) Weave a mixtape together with pertinent skits (aka No YELLING "ITDISI GOINGSK DOWNS WEORDS HOMIES")

2.) Treat the mixtape as an album in the material produced

3.) Give out some of your best material that had only been heard as snippets before

4.) Spit more than 1 verse (if that) of new material

DJ Green Lantern used his trademark scratches and slogans very lightly, giving this mixtape an actual fluidity. He tied comedic skits from famous standup acts and did it very well. Green Lantern also went way beyond his usual by being fresh with his production selection for the mixtape songs he produced.

As for Nas, he let us hear a couple songs that had yet to been fully released and he spit new lines on a bunch of songs solely for the mixtape!

So, back by popular (Hey Visqo!) demand....THE REVIEW:

1. Intro- Skit using the racial slur in a comedic sense while defining its meaning.

2. Gangsta Rap Remix--Nas went in with his remix to Ice Cube's song...an extension of Nas' previous lyrics to the remix released a few months ago...decent.

3. Cops Keep Firing produced by Green Lantern--- Nas goes in with TWO grade A freestyle sets of versus...exclusive to this mixtape!!! YOU KIDDING ME??? Plus Lantern flips a classic and gets a Jay-Z verse and Nas verse as the hook...creative!

4. Hero feat Keri Hilson....Great scratches in such an anticipated song....Good intro flip from "Classic 07" from Kanye. We all know this song is Grade A!!!!!

5. Black President.....Starts off with a question from a political commentator: "Do you really think America's ready for a black president?" and that just leads even more in to the song that is freakin awesome!!!

....note: I realized I am at a stan/loretta level now. If you expect this to decrease/stay-the-same, you are sadly mistaken...

6. Association ft. STIC MAN FROM DEAD PREZ.....I'm pretty sure both versus from both guys are very obscure ones....and it's a good setup for their actual collab on Nas' upcoming album....

7. LEGENDARY (MIKE TYSON) prod. by Salaam Remi....Nas LIFTS a FRESH PRINCE theme...the intro is the ring announcer introducing Mike Tyson and Nas...the Beat is so OLD SCHOOL AND FRESH!!! It's from his album and had yet to be released before this mixtape!! Great stuff...

8. Ghetto (Remix) ft. Joell Ortiz....Another less heard gem by Nas ripping apart the Rich Boy song...sweet...Joell is ok on this...better elsewhere...

9. Seen it all---Green puts together a spooky funky beat and lifts Nas' verses from that "Everthing I love" song by diddy from the forgettable press play album...

10. ESCO LET'S GO prod by DJ Khalil.....

........The HOTTEST BEAT.

.......NAS goes way in...like 19 feet deep. SICKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!

...again, this is another song that never was out (at best, snippets were available)

11. N.I.G.G.E.R prod. by DJ Toomp....... Ok, so I've avoided this long enough. If I'm going to push NAS like crazy..I can't ignore the theme of the album (and former title)....so after listening to this continuously...I have to say this is very good...... It's smooth, and Nas makes it clear that there is no natural difference between any person. He makes it clear we can't let "black" "white" or any label be their definition.

12. Be a N----- Too Remix---it's interesting soul sampling....the lyrics are creative...I still do have a problem with hook...other than that, both this, and the remix are good.

13. Surviving the Times (Original Cool And Dre Production)-- Terrible beat. I found out Cool and Dre do this constantly..."We made it" by Busta Rhymes and Linkin Park was initially done by Cool and Dre...of course Linkin Park took over the production.... Anyway, whatever, fun keyboard work...but dumb.

14. Nas Timeline---A mix narrated by Nas about his first days as an MC to Hip Hop is Dead.... very fun to listen to!!! He talked pretty candidly and was really introspective in this discussion...great stuff.

15. Outro---Richard Pryor....the amazing end of the standup by Pryor regarding the N-word.

....

So, DJ Green Lantern really worked hard with Nas to get his gems many have not heard in preparation for his album...he got ahold of some of the dopest tracks Nas had made in a long time... (Hero, Esco lets Go)...

And he got Nas to do an introspective piece while using comedic relief to tie it all together.

In an era where mixtapes don't exist, this is a true gem of a tape. DJ Green Lantern and Nas together put an "album-ified" mixtape.....and a great one at that. I'd put this mixtape up against some of the prime mixtapes back when they were all over the place.

As a mixtape: A+++++++

:signthankspin:

:wickedwisdom:

Now, time to hide from all those who think I totally STAN'd it up :paperbag:

Edited by Bob
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You didn't "Stan' it up. I already like Nas as is, but seeing what you said and describing each track, I won't stall another minute to get it. I love things like comedy and stuff mixed into music. This real "Mixtape" is right up my alley.

Nas is DOPE. Period. There's no such thing as over hype for a real emcee.

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