ALBUM: R.I.P: I Killed That Shit
SOUNDS LIKE: Pretty much every other Young Dro mixtape which, if you’ve been following them, is not a bad thing.
FUN FACT: One of Young Dro’s best friends growing up was Chris “Daddy Mack” Smith (the light-skinned one) from Kris Kross.
WHY COMPLEX IS CO-SIGNING IT: Before he went away, the Rap Rambo b.k.a. T.I. made a trunk load of contingency plans (Paper Trail re-release, The Takers set to hit theaters) to ensure that his label still stacks paper while he serves a yearlong bid for weapons possession. Makes sense, seeing as Tip is Grand Hustle’s primary bread winner, but that doesn’t mean everyone else on the label can’t hold their own. While the boss is away, Young Dro is letting people know Grand Hustle still ain’t nothing to fuck with—and there’s no better evidence than the fact that Dro is still signed to them. After dropping his slightly lackluster Black Boy, White Boy tape with label mate Yung LA earlier this year, Dro returns to form with his DJ Don Cannon-assisted mixtape to get fans ready for his upcoming sophomore project P.O.L.O. (Players Only Live Once), and to prove that like Akon and Curtis, he can still kill.
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ALBUM:Man on the Moon: The End of Day
SOUNDS LIKE: A better 808’s & Heartbreak, with popier hooks, and darker verses.
FUN FACT: The Clipse and Snoop Dogg were both slated to be featured on the album, back when the project was still titled Man on the Moon: The Guardians.
WHY COMPLEX IS CO-SIGNING IT: If you haven’t noticed, we ride with Kid Cudi around here. He may be a bit overly emotional at times, yeah, but what do you expect from the kid who was handpicked by Kanye West to help mold his most melancholic album to date? That said, personal misgivings aside, Dat Kid from Cleveland has managed to make some great music in the short time the public has known him. His first hit single, an ode to being stoned, “Day N’ Night” did a lot for him. It had him in every lounge and night club in New York, LA and Miami, got him a placement on one of the best songs on Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 and it placed him in a group of similarly aged rappers (you know who they are) who were pegged as the next to blow. After listening to his mystifying, atmospheric G.O.O.D. Music debut, we’ve come to the conclusion that Cudi has no desire to be considered the “Best New Rapper”. He’s on some completely different shit. And it’s dope.
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ARTIST: Raekwon
ALBUM: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Pt II
SOUNDS LIKE: Superhero Rap, son!
FUN FACT: Busta Rhymes was originally tapped as an executive producer.
WHY COMPLEX IS CO-SIGNING IT: Because we promised y’all that whichever album got more votes in our Battle of the Rap Sequels post would become our Album of the Week. And the ‘Net has spoken: The Chef’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt II is better than Jigga’s Blueprint 3.. At least according to you, our readers. And we’re gonna have to agree. While we think Blueprint 3 is a great piece of work, and like the fact that Jay made an album that can bump in BK barbershops as well as find rotation in Mayor Bloomberg’s “Music Black People Like” playlist, it would have been better off being called Kingdom Come 2, as it doesn’t really feel to have any connection to the 2001 opus. On the other hand, Raekwon’s OB4CL2 completely takes us back to the Wu’s grimey, dusty, gloriously grimy, shank to your neck, kilo in the duffle, glory days. And that’s just the kind of rap album we needed to close out the first decade of the 2000’s…
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ARTIST: Donnis
ALBUM: Diary of an Atlanta Brave
SOUNDS LIKE: Dungeon Family x T.I. x B.O.B.
FUN FACT: Although born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Donnis didn’t start officially rapping until he was stationed in Japan while on duty with the Army.
WHY COMPLEX IS CO-SIGNING IT: Because when you see a mixtape from a relatively unknown rapper with original production by big name producers, it usually means either of two things. 1. The no-name rapper was just signed to the producer’s label or management team, or 2. The producers thought the rapper was sick enough to get a couple beats gratis. We’re not positive, but we’re sure Atlanta native Donnis falls into the latter category. Either way, once we saw a video of him in the studio with Just Blaze and then peeped that his 10 Deep sponsored debut mixtape, Diary of an Atlanta Brave featured production from J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League and Needles, we had to see what everyone saw in this dude. And after listening to the eclectic, but steadfastly southern 12 track offering, we can clearly see why everyone wants to work with him…
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ARTIST: Slaughterhouse
ALBUM: Slaughterhouse
SOUNDS LIKE: Punchline-heavy verses from the ’90s x Non-commercial production from ‘09
FUN FACT: The four MCs initially came together on “Slaughterhouse”—a track included on Joe Budden’s Halfway House. Nino Bless, who was also featured on the song, wasn’t invited to join the group because other members felt he didn’t pay enough dues.
WHY COMPLEX IS CO-SIGNING IT: There have been many hip-hop “supergroups” that looked great on paper, but never fully materialized on wax. In that sense, Slaughterhouse—consists of Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Crooked I, and Royce Da 5′9″—deserves praise just for putting out an actual album. In addition, more praise is due, since all four MCs deliver on the album as a unit. And let’s be clear: Slaughterhouse isn’t necessarily built for the current market. What fans can hear is exactly what you might expect—verses filled with vicious punchlines and sharp deliveries that are guaranteed to get heads nodding.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL REVIEW AND OUR COMPLEX 7 INTERVIEW WITH SLAUGHTERHOUSE!
ARTIST: Drug Rug
ALBUM: Paint the Fence Invisible
SOUNDS LIKE: Sonny & Cher x Bikini Kill x the Beatles x the Zombies (yes, we’re comparing them to the Zombies and motherfucking Bikini Kill, it’s good stuff!)
FUN FACT: The two main members of DR, girlfriend and boyfriend Sarah Cronin and Tommy Allen, met while they were working at the Middle East Club in Cambridge, MA. Legend has it they spent their first date drinking whiskey in bed and playing guitar…presumably after they made sweet, sweet love.
WHY COMPLEX IS CO-SIGNING IT: Because drugs are fun and listening to really druggy music (preferably while on drugs yourself) is extra fun. Not to belabor the point, but when a band names itself after those baja ponchos the hippie kids used to wear in high school (yeah, we had to look up “drug rug” in Urban Dictionary and were much relieved to learn that it did not refer to that piece of carpet we smoked thinking it was a chunk of meth dropped on the floor) you expect certain things, and PTFI delivers: backward guitar solos, twinkling keyboard riffs, delightfully obtuse lyrics, ethereal vocals…
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ARTIST: Fabolous
ALBUM: Loso’s Way
SOUNDS LIKE: Fab’s interpretation of Jay-Z’s American Gangster x R&B singers
FUN FACT: The former king of throwbacks keeps his jerseys locked up in the basement.
WHY COMPLEX IS CO-SIGNING IT: Back when Ghetto Fabolous dropped, the Brooklyn MC’s catchy singles, punchline-filled freestyles, and dare we say, “swag” made kids from all five boroughs want to be like him. Eight years later, Fabolous has grown from a flashy newcomer with hood-certified mixtapes to a veteran with a gang of hits. By now, both fans and critics have become used to his R&B-assisted lead singles followed by albums that rarely live up to the hype. As if to address past career missteps, Fabolous returns with Loso’s Way—a conceptual album loosely based on Brian de Palma’s film Carlito’s Way…
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ARTIST: Pac Div
ALBUM: Church League Champions
FUN FACT: For their official upcoming debut album, Grown Kids Syndrome, Pac Div is going to be working with a couple heavy hitters including the Neptunes who they will be recording with in Miami.
WHY COMPLEX IS CO-SIGNING IT: Two reasons, really. First off, even with their freshly inked deal with Universal Motown and forthcoming production from some of the biggest producers in the industry, this LA based trio considers themselves to be underdogs in the rap game. And they’re right. At a time when most of raps fresh faces are endorsed by the industry’s major players (Jay, Kanye, Weezy), it’s hard to see how an artist—a rap group, no less!—who’s truly standing on their own two (or six), can break into the spotlight. That’s where the second reason comes into play: these dudes make really dope music…
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ARTIST: The Dead Weather
ALBUM: Horehound
FUN FACT: Three tracks from the album are featured as downloads for the new Rock Band release.
WHY COMPLEX IS CO-SIGNING IT: Jack White (of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs fame) has yet to disappoint us with his many musical projects and Horehound is not an exception. This time, he’s called upon singer Alison Mosshart of The Kills, guitarist Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age, and bassist Jack Lawrence of The Raconteurs to create The Dead Weather—a blues-infused alternative rock band that gives off an inexplicable coolness. There’s no word of any of the members leaving their original bands, so we’re taking this album as a side project put together by a super-talented foursome…
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ARTIST: The Alchemist
ALBUM: Chemical Warfare
SOUNDS LIKE: Spooky chopped samples x pounding drums x Cali Kush
FUN FACT: Alchemist claims, “I’ve been smoking so long, I’m probably higher when I don’t smoke. It has reverse effects.”
WHY COMPLEX IS CO-SIGNING IT: Chemical Warfare (out today) picks up where 1st Infantry left off five years ago. Al thoroughly chops both odd and well-known samples to match his trademark sound filled with cynical melodies and boom-bap drums, with a set of guest appearances by a wide range of artists from Lil Fame to Juicy J.
Kicking it off with the Kool G Rap-assisted “ALC Theme,” followed by the menacing “Lose Your Life,” and the Eminem-featured “Chemical Warfare,” the L.A.-bred beatsmith flexes his forte early. The uptempo bounce of “That’ll Work” doesn’t boast a catchy hook, but the experimental loop rapped over by Juvenile and Three Six Mafia has the bounce of a South record with griminess of an East Coast banger. Besides the addictive single “Smile”—featuring a show-stealing Twista and a soulful Maxwell— the album’s standout track is the guitar-riff-heavy “Therapy.” Yes, we’re aware that the track’s been out for some time, but with Evidence, Blu, and Talib dropping rewind-worthy bars, and a blazed-out hook from Kid Cudi, it’s hard to ignore the song’s dopeness. Also dope is the fact that the ALC has several joints (the aforementioned Em song, “Lights Cameras, Action,” with Fame and “Some Gangster S***” with Fabolous) that are under two minutes each; the quick-hitters serve to pace the album like Primo’s little segueway tracks on classic Gang Starr LPs.
After traveling the world with Em, Al was in town for a breather. In addition to the album review, check out our hilarious interview with the producer/rapper (below) where he talked to us about a possible Whooliganz reunion, how he almost got locked up abroad, and his challenge to Spencer Pratt…
CLICK TO READ THE INTERVIEW AND HEAR KEY TRACKS OFF THE ALBUM
