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If you’re a rapper and you aren’t fucking with music outside of hip-hop: Welcome to 2010. Catch up. Hip-hop is still a young genre, and if you don’t feel the change in the air, you’re probably old and/or out of touch. Shit, Jay-Z is over 40 and even he gets it. The genre is splitting into different niches like a log going into a wood chipper, and open mindedness to other genres is essential to survival. There are still plenty of rappers getting by on recycled 90’s styled joints, but the breaking point is near. As cool as 36 Chambers and Illmatic were, it’s been done. Let’s make something new, yeah?
This is OnCue‘s latest mixtape Cuey Sings the Blues. The ambition on this one is sure to bring a smile to everyone’s face who likes seeing hip-hop step into new territory (although the DMB sample made me cringe). At times, it feels a little contradictory, like OnCue’s delivery is a raging bull stomping over the sensitive beats and lyrics that fuel this mixtape, but it’s a step in the right direction and I can appreciate that.
Sampling and flipping Massive Attack, to Feist, to DMB, to Third Eye Blind, to Empire of the Sun, to Black Keys, to Tracy Chapman to The Who I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll love in this tape.
DOWNLOAD: OnCue – Cuey Sings the Blues (Mixtape) | Alternative Link | Another Alternative
01. For the Moon (prod. CJ Luzi)
02. Friends (prod. CJ Luzi)
03. In the Memory of You
04. Crashing Down (prod. AJisReal)
05. Drunk Dialing (prod. Emay & OnCue)
06. Let Loose (prod. CJ Luzi)
07. Escape (prod. Emay & OnCue)
08. Time Machine (prod. Chanes & Joey Fava)
09. Empty Promises
10. Center of the Room (feat. PUSH! Montana) (prod. CJ Luzi)
11. Daddy’s Money (feat. Casey Herlihy) (prod. CJ Luzi)
12. She Don’t Wanna Wait (prod. Chanes)
13. News For You (prod. CJ Luzi)
14. A Smile Like A Flame (prod. CJ Luzi & Bruce Henderson Jr.)
15. Finally
Hit the jump if you’re into back covers….
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