The Good:
MeLo-X has just made history on Stack That Cheese! After last week's Better Off Dead from the Flatbush Zombies, MeLo-X's appearance in "The Good" column marks the first time (probably) that two residents from the same community appeared back-to-back on STC.
If that wasn't enough of a hint, MeLo-X is a rapper and producer out of Flatbush, Brooklyn, same as the Zombies. Unlike the Zombies, MeLo-X is a one-man act and manages to make some pretty complex sounds all by himself, with a little help from features and guest producers here and there.
WiFi is more like an EP than a full-length album, but that doesn't limit MeLo from showing off his range.
MeLo relies a lot on electronic sounds that sound like a mix between ASAP Rocky and Flying Lotus.
"Rich Man" is an example of this. It starts off with a simple electronic bass line before adding some funky synths and a kick-ass drum kit.
 |
| Little Simz |
MeLo doesn't just hide behind his production, either. He has a pretty great flow that fluctuates between freaky fast and just slow enough to add emphasis to his words. Plus, London-rapper Little Simz stops by to add an even more distinguishable verse. It's not too often you can find a hard-hitting British female emcee, but Little Simz is the exception and it's fantastic.
And "Finer Things" is a diverse track that goes from soothing electronic to ASAP-like hazy rap. Plus, a beautiful songstress by the name of Elle Pierre comes by for an enchanting hook.
There are some songs produced by others that keep up with the general theme of Wifi, such as "Customs," produced by D. Bridge. The track has a quick hi-hat beat mixed with some spooky background noise that sounds like Timbaland tried his hand at producing the Luigi's Haunted Mansion music.
On "Customs," MeLo sings instead of rapping, and even though he's no Frank Ocean, he still manages to keep up and keep the song interesting.
WiFi's biggest fault is probably that it's just seven songs long, which leaves the listener aching for more. But in those seven songs, MeLo-X manages to add a large contribution to the reincarnation of the New York hip-hop scene.
The Bad:
I got lucky with this one, honestly. I was just about to head to Datpiff for a bad mixtape. It's been a pretty calm mixtape week thus far, but when I went back to Hot New Hip-Hop's home page, there was this beautifully corny mixtape cover and I knew I was saved.
Cash Out is an Atlanta rapper that clearly likes being known by an action. You might know Cash (also written as Ca$h) from his hit single "Cashin' Out," a song with a repetitive beat and dumbed down lyrics.
Unsurprisingly, Ya Feel Me? is just more of that, except maybe a little less catchy.
 |
| Pull-Up, don't turn up |
"Pull Up" is an example of that poor formula. The beat is boring, mostly consisting of Inception-like horns and heavy bass. And the lyrics are just ridiculously stupid, even in the hook. "If a nigga pay you know we bout to pull up / I've been in money since I was in Pull-Ups," raps Cash Out. Although, he deserves at least some credit for being the first rapper of all time to mention Pull-Ups.
"Movie" might be one of the better produced tracks on Ya Feel Me? With a predominately piano-based beat and a little bit of strings, "Movie" just feels more legitimate. It's still repetitive except for a bass breakdown, but by Cash Out standards, it's not bad.
That doesn't mean the lyrics are any better, though. By "Movie," Cash Out means sex tape and he mostly just sings (poorly, I might add) about threesomes and other sexual acts.
The most surprising thing about Ya Feel Me? is that it's mostly just Cash Out. There are only two features on the whole mixtape, and neither of them are important enough to mention. For someone who's worked with Wale before, you would think Cash Out could get some bigger names for his mixtape.
Ya Feel Me? is far from a good debut. For someone new on the scene, you would hope Cash Out would make better use of his 15 minutes of fame. But based on this release, it seems his 15 minutes are up.
The Re-dic-yu-lus:
YES! Stack That Cheese is only a few episodes into its second season, but I still thought Soulja Boy and/or Lil B would have made an appearance by now. But I guess it's better late than never.
I probably shouldn't be admitting this, but as soon as I saw Soulja's new mixtape, I automatically penciled it in as re-dic-yu-lus. I mean, it of course turned out to be. But that says something about Soulja Boy that his mixtape being bad is as certain as death and taxes.
"Jackie Chan" has to be one of my favorite bad songs on 23. The beat is made up of some weird piano-y synths and some heavy bass. The hook is just Soulja Boy saying "Kill shit like Jackie Chan" in a way that it sounds like "kishit like Jackie Chan." And Soulja Boy even disses 2 Chainz! "Three chains on my neck, but not in my name," he says, calling out one of the most prolific rappers at the moment.
"But Xavier," you might say, "I love Jackie Chan and all, but I really hate that new Karate Kid with him in it. Is there anything on 23 that might appeal to the original Karate Kid fanboy in my heart?'
 |
| Crank this / Crank that |
Well, that's a really specific question, voice inside my head. Luckily for you, there totally is. Thanks to Soulja Boy, you can now wax on and wax off in style to his song "Mr. Miyagi." Every Karate Kid fan will love hearing Soulja Boy rapping, "Tattoos on my neck / Tattoos on my chest / Riding through the hood and I feel like I'm the best" right before he goes into a hook repeating "Mr. Miyagi" and "wax on / wax off."
And just because Soulja Boy is an Oriental god, he decided to do a song called "Japanese," too. I don't even get the logic behind this song. He seems to think that enough lean can lead to "niggas talking Japanese." Is this like an epiphany thing? Like, the Holy Spirit comes to him in his lean and encourages speaking tongues? Like, what?
Honestly, "Japanese" barely even has lyrics. I don't know how to quote Soulja Boy off this track because he mostly just says "lean," "g's," "Japanese" and "jeans" a lot. With the occasional "konichiwa," of course, so you know he can indeed speak Japanese.
I truly missed Soulja Boy. Outside of Lil B, he's basically my favorite to cover. And if anyone deserves thanks for STC getting to the big 10k, it's Soulja Boy. So thanks, Soulja Boy. I'll crank that in your honor.
-X-Prime, dropping the mic for now
@XavierVeccia
No comments:
Post a Comment