So Re-Dic-Yu-Lus

This is an emotional Stack That Cheese for me, I'm not going to lie. As regular readers know, here at Stack That Cheese we like to look at the absolute worst mixtapes of the week. We call these albums "re-dic-yu-lus." And for those of you who don't know why, it's because I love how Swizz Beats says "ridiculous" during the hook of "So Apalled" off Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. And today, two of those featured artists from that song are here on Stack That Cheese. (No, Jay-Z and Kanye did not decide to release competing mixtapes the same week.) I'll try not to cry, but no promises can be made.

The Good:

Cyhi The Prince - Ivy League: Kick Back

Cyhi might be one of the most underrated members of G.O.O.D. music. He consistently shows up on his guest verses, but doesn't get the love that others like Big Sean or even G.O.O.D. Music collaborator 2 Chainz get. But on Ivy League: Kick Back, Cyhi proves just how good and versatile he is.

On "Mary Jane," Cyhi shows his abilities as stoner rapper. Obviously, a song called "Mary Jane" is most likely about weed. On this track, Cyhi talks about his love for the drug and how "Mary Jane bought [him] everything." With a nice, laid-back beat and a feature from Smoke DZA, it's a great track to smoke to.

Rodgers & Hammerstein
were pretty hood, though.

And he proves he can take on more serious issues with "Favorite Things," which is a more hood version of the song "These are a Few of My Favorite Things" from Sound of Music. On the track, Cyhi talks about growing up without the finer things, saying, "None of us were accustomed to being rich / Unless you was a hustler, hustling flipping bricks." The heavier lyrics accompanied by a piano-based beat produced by The Audibles work together to make this one of the best songs on the mixtape.

Djonald Glover Unchained?

Cyhi even shows his comedic side on "Young, Rich, Fly & Famous." One of my favorite lines from this song has to be, "She said, 'What kind of jeans are those.' I told her, 'Bitch, guess' / She said, 'True Religion.' I said, 'No, bitch. Guess.'" I honestly don't know what makes this line so ridiculously hilarious. It's such a stupid line and if nearly any other rapper said it, it wouldn't be as funny. But Cyhi manages to pull it off. Childish Gambino also shows up for a great verse, including the line, "Chain on my neck, like, boy's so Django / The 'D' is silent. My d is violent." That's right! Troy from Community is rapping about Django Unchained. I can die happy now.

Kick Back is an incredibly solid effort from Cyhi. With this mixtape, the young G.O.O.D. Music star shows just how bright his future is.

The Bad:

Pusha T - Wrath of Caine

If you would have told me a month ago--hell, a week ago--that friend of ACRN Pusha T's latest mixtape would be subpar, I would have thought you were crazy. But here we are, with the G.O.O.D. Music veteran in "the bad." (Ironic, isn't it?)

Most likely, this mixtape is compiled of left-overs from his upcoming album My Name Is My Name that should be out in March. So, it is excusable that the songs would be less than quality. However, that doesn't change the fact that Pusha T failed to show up.

What is most confusing about this mixtape is that Pusha has three features from Maybach Music and none from his own label. "Millions" features Maybach Music's boss himself, Rick Ross. Pusha opens the song up by saying that when G.O.O.D. Music and Maybach get together, they "get that money." But if this song says anything about the relationship between the two labels, they probably don't get that much money together. There's really not much to say about "Millions." It's just adequate. And it drags on for way too long. I was ready for the song to be over after Ross' verse, but there were still two-and-a-half minutes left.

Production is another major issue with Wrath of Caine. "Doesn't Matter," produced by Renegades, just seems to be off on the timing. It's almost confusing how anyone thought this would be aesthetically pleasing. And "Trust You" is an example of a good song being ruined by a bad hook. The hook, sung by Kevin Gates, seems overly saturated. And this is a problem that seems to come up time and time again.

The best song is probably "Revolution," produced by The Neptunes. With some cymbals and horns, mixed with some good lines ("Took our coach down, Al Davis."), it's hard not to like. Sadly, it's also the second shortest song on the 11-track mixtape, coming in at 1:43.

Wrath of Caine is far from horrible. But Pusha T is capable of so much more. Hopefully, he's saved the best for My Name Is My Name. And I refuse to believe otherwise until he proves it himself.

The Re-dic-yu-lus:

TSC - Life Love & Music

With such a momentous reunion of the "So Appalled" crew, it's essential to honor them with a mixtape as re-dic-yu-lus as they come. And thanks to TSC, Cyhi and Pusha T can be honored properly.

I don't know much about TSC. Okay, I don't know anything about TSC. But what I do know, thanks to his description of his mixtape on datpiff, is that he still relies on AOL to receive his email. That's right. AOL. You remember that, right? It was the service you used to flirt with "sokkerstud94" while asking your friend "b@kstreetgurl" if she thought sokkerstud like-liked you. And that's what TSC still uses. Clearly, the dude's old-school.

But he's not old-school in the Joey Bada$$ "bring hip-hop back to Brooklyn" way. He's old-school in the "I still use horrible recording equipment" way.

As soon as Life Love & Music starts, you can just tell TSC doesn't know what the fuck he's doing. In the song "Pretty Girl," the volume levels are off, proved by the fact that the beat soars over him and the hook is so loud that you need to turn down the volume.

Skip 11 tracks down to the song "When Da Angels Come," and now the volume is so much quieter. Even the verses from "Pretty Girl" are louder. And by the end of the song, the volume is somehow even lower. Along with the volume issues, TSC's flow is just absolutely horrid. It's hard to tell exactly what his rhyme scheme is and when one line ends and the other begins.

Based on Life Love & Music, TSC should probably consider switching to Gmail, along with changing his recording equipment, tweaking his flow, or maybe even just quitting rap in general.

-- Xavier Veccia, dropping the mic for now.

@xprime_time

Stack That New Year!

Seven. Seven weeks. Seven weeks since I've seen you, Cheeseheads. Oh, how I missed you. Every Thursday, I would just get up super early and immerse myself in Hot New Hip-Hop and Datpiff in hopes of creating the greatest blog post for you faithful readers of mine, only to remember that it was winter break and then I slept instead because, well, you know, it was winter break. But now it's back to the daily grind and that means Stack That Cheese is back. And in a new year, too! New year, new Stack That Cheese with a new logo. Now let's get this new year started out right.

The Good:

YG - Just Re'd Up

Every morning when I wake up, I stomp over to my mirror in a drowsy state of mind and glare at my reflection, shouting, "You're better than the beats! You're better than the beats, goddammit!"

And until today, I thought I was. I would normally look past the beats and focus on the lyrics instead (unless I was feeling ig'nant). But YG broke me.

I should have known it from the intro: the Universal Pictures theme song with DJ Mustard (that's right, DJ Mustard) yelling over it. At the time, I just assumed YG was conceited, saying he was like the feature presentation or something cliche like that. But after listening to just a couple songs, I realized I was right! And so was he! YG was tipping us off to his own brilliance. This really was the feature presentation. So I grabbed a bowl of popcorn, sat back and let YG present it to me.

The best part of Just Re'd Up is the beats. There's several songs that just make you want to ride around in the classiest of suburbs with the bass turned up just to let everyone that lives there that you are one hood-ass motherfucker.

Let's start at "This Yick" featuring West Coast rapper Dom Kennedy and Joe Moses. The bass is just plain overwhelming and the rest of the beat sounds like it's straight out of a horror movie. Sure, the chorus is, "Girl, I know you want this dick," and YG has lines as bad as "Pussy gets mashed up, smashed up, mashed like potatoes," but the beat is just too dirty to look past. Plus, Kennedy's verse gives the song some lyrical integrity.

The very next song is called "Make it Clap." And once again, the song is of poor lyrical quality. The chorus is simplistic and repetitive and just about every line in the song has something to do with making a bitch clap her ass. But how the hell can I look past the beat? DJ Mustard's masterpiece includes heavy drums, claps, bass and what sounds like a recorder or another wind instrument.

There's even some good baby-making music on this mixtape. "Love Jones" featuring Tydolla$ign is definitely the best. YG's rhyme actually works better with an R&B-style slow song, where being dirty and completely sex-oriented sounds much better. Even a line like "I'm trying to give you two things /  Some dick and satisfaction" seems almost sweet as baby-making music.

Honestly, DJ Mustard deserves some award for making YG listenable. YG has re-dic-yu-lus quality lyrics, but Mustard just makes you forget about that and focus on his beats instead. He stole the show and definitely deserves an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor or something like that for making Just Re'd Up into a feature presentation.

The Bad: The Pretty Good:

Rockie Fresh - Electric Highway

I know, I know. I'm breaking all the rules of the blog. I'm despicable. A horrible human being. The absolute worst. But I had to. I had already downloaded Electric Highway when I heard Just Re'd Up and I couldn't turn back. So I just decided to call this "pretty good" and get rid of "the bad." But hey, it's a new year! New Stack That Cheese! New logo! And now, new format (for one week)!

Rockie Fresh is the newest signee to Maybach Music, and Electric Highway is his way of coming out. As a new member of Maybach, good production is all but guaranteed, which is what really stood out when I first pegged this as "the good" of the week. But after hearing Just Re'd Up, I knew I couldn't really use good production as an argument for Fresh's new mixtape.

But that doesn't mean Electric Highway is bad. It's quite good, actually. "Superman OG" is one of the better examples of production, using the sound of lighters and maracas, along with some heavy bass, to create an entertaining beat.

"Roll Up Right Now" is another quality song with a great feature from Curren$y. Curren$y is of course greeted with a nice, old-timey beat filled with some bass guitar and piano that's very Curren$y friendly. Curren$y even admits it when he raps, "Old school, though / So ahead of my time."

"The Lights," for whatever reason, is my favorite song off the mixtape, though. It features some simple electronic synths and a chorus of a female vocalist singing, "The lights will lead you there / There's no better light than this, I swear." And Fresh is rapping under some pretty heady autotune. The whole song just has a modern feel and it's very alluring.

While Rockie Fresh may not have been able to grab the top spot this week, Electric Highway is still a good release. He proves to fit right in with Maybach Music.

The Re-dic-yu-lus:

Slym B - Searching for You

You know how nearly every rapper makes sure to mention time and time again how much they love God? And you know how nearly every rap song does the exact opposite of proving that? I of course say "nearly" because Slym B is out to prove how much he loves Jesus.

Especially on the song "In Love With Jesus." "Man, I said it / I said it / I'm in love with Jesus," Slym B raps in the chorus. This kind of love for Jesus isn't new to rap, but it's not too often when a rapper dedicates a song to Him, let alone a whole mixtape. But that's what Slym B does. The only thing more surprising than this is the way in which he goes about professing his love for the big man. He raps over beats in a manner that seems more likely to fit in a 2 Chainz song than in a church.

"Ooh, that devil mad," Slym B raps in "In Love With Jesus," acting as if he's calling the devil out like he's a rival rapper, much less a fallen angel. And he does this with all the swagger of Kevin Federline.

He also brags about God the same way that most rappers would brag about pussy or weed. Take the song "Unstable," where Slym B proves he wasn't allowed to be in choir by horribly singing the chorus. But he doesn't stop there. He also brags about his faith and tries to sway the listener to become a believer through lines like, "You too comfortable in your sin, huh."

Now before I go any further and make it seem like Slym B got into this category by preaching his faith, let's explain why this mixtape is so horrible.

It's not the content that Slym is rapping about, but how he's rapping about it. He's got all the cockiness of someone from Young Money, and the ghetto-ass beats of some of the most ignorant rappers in the game, but he's rapping about Christianity. Now, I may not be too rooted in the Christian hip-hop movement, but something tells me that's the wrong way to go about it.

Because when you're listening to artists like Soulja Boy or Chief Keef, you're not just there for the beats. You're also there because you want to listen to songs about bitches and weed. I can't imagine there are many people listening to those artists thinking to themselves, "I really like these beats, but gosh darnit, these boys are just too sinful for me." But that's the target audience for Slym B.

Christian rapping can be done right, just not like this. Look at Lecrae or the 116 Clique. They manage to preach their faith without sounding ignorant about it. But Slym B takes the opposite route and instead just comes out of his mixtape sounding unintelligent and ridiculous. Hence, his inclusion in the re-dic-yu-lus section.

-- Xavier Veccia, dropping the mic for now.

@xprime_time