The Good:
Hip-hop has this way of focusing mostly on just a handful of areas at a time. There's plenty of good East Coast rap, but we don't get too far out of New York. Same goes for the West Coast and California, along with the South and the Atlanta area. Sometimes, the only way for an area to get noticed is one superstar breaking out. That's usually enough to make the blogosphere and record companies way too obsessed with said area. (See: Pittsburgh and the Mac Miller/Wiz Khalifa combo)
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| Looking good, Cole. |
Luckily for us, that happened in North Carolina with J. Cole. Thanks to Cole, rap fans everywhere have looked more into the Carolina region. And that's how King Mez came up.
Thank God, too, because this guy is really good. Aside from being the umpteenth rapper with royalty in his name, Mez is easily one of the more creative upstarts in a while.
It's hard to really tell if North Carolina has much of a sound. While New York has that classic chill, drum-reliant sound and the West has the g-funk and ratchet sounds, North Carolina seems too small of a hip-hop scene to truly have a constant theme. But, if I have to guess, I'd guess they like Kanye a lot. From Cole's "Last Call" on Warm Up to the small reference to Kanye's "The New Workout Plan" in Mez's "Flight," when he raps, "What's scary to me." And to this writer, that's one hell of a great thing.
Another theme in North Carolina seems to be sick lyrics. Long Live the King's opening track "Inheritance" starts off with 45 seconds of piano and a female chorus, building anticipation. And then Mez kicks in with "I need a few classic albums and a couple mil before I put my feet up / Just to dust 'em off. I don't recline I keep my seat up." And the crazy part is that he continues that rhyme for most of a verse. Quality lyrics are all over this mixtape.
However, what makes Mez really special is his flow. He has an insanely grimy voice, sort of like a deeper Chance the Rapper. And he has this way of saying words that would make "insomnia" rhyme with "only way." And he does.
Plus there's the production. "Swerve" has this synth-heavy beat that sounds ominous and "Flight" sounds like it's straight off Vic Mensa's Innanetape. There are definitely some powerful samples on Long Live the King, along with classic drum beats that tie the whole thing together and makes it a well-produced tape.
King Mez might have gotten the spotlight from Cole, but he got his talent on his own. And that shines through on Long Live the King.
The Bad:
I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert on R&B. I listen it, sure, but it's much more casual than my love for rap. But I do know I'm not a huge fan of when it drifts into super poppy territory.
A.D.H.D. is just about as poppy an R&B mixtape could be without being pop itself.
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| J. Holiday wants his style back |
The entire album is exactly what one would expect from an R&B artist who's not really singing R&B. There are semi-sexy beats and cliché lyrics everywhere. This might not be too bad in 2007, but R&B's currently undergoing a lot of changes with the likes of The Weeknd and Ty Dolla $ign at the helm.
What bothers me the most about this is that McCall knows this. "Smokin Killa" is a low-key banger. It's that slimy shouting-meets-singing type thing that's getting increasingly more popular and more catchy. And the beat is club-worthy with a fun feature from Calico West.
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| Sadly, there's no mustard on the beat, ho. |
Then there's "Yo Chick" featuring Dolla $ign himself. The beat is straight fire, sounding like a DJ Mustard beat made for Future. And Dolla $ign proves why he's the future with an attention-grabbing verse.
But that's about all there is. "Match One"could have been written for just about any mid-2000s singer and most of them would have done it better.
And then "Neva Had A" is re-dic-yu-lus worthy. The video game-like synths are so distracting and McCall just sounds like he's trying way too hard. Plus there are multiple times when he just says "nigga," like nine or ten times within a couple of seconds.
Kevin McCall definitely has potential to be half-decent someday. But the majority of A.D.H.D. fails to show that.
The Re-dic-yu-lus:
I've been stacking cheese for almost two years now, and yet this is the first time this has happened. This is the first time we've had a re-dic-yu-lus repeat for someone who wasn't famous for being bad (Lil B, Soulja Boy and Waka Flocka). I honestly never expected this. I just kind of assumed once they reached Stack That Cheese their career was over. Apparently I don't have as much klout as I thought. Rats.
At least that's what DOLLABILLGATES wants me to think. So, as Supa Hot Fire would say, it's time to finish this man's whole career.
First off, I'm not a rapper. Now, I'ma let DOLLABILLGATES go first.
"I got a whole crowd of niggas wanna see me ball
Put sixes on it, now I'm seven feet tall.
That's a cold-ass truck my nigga.
Do your thing, go and stunt my nigga.
Roll a blunt a blunt my nigga."
You're done. You're done. My turn.
Ok.
Ok.
Ok.
You're DOLLABILLGATES. I'm PESOSTEVEJOBS
Because I'm a Mexican apple. Manzana
But I'm not a rapper. Go ahead.
"When I'm talking silent, man, I mean a whole hunnid.
If I was down to two hunnid, let you hold a hunnid.
Switch lanes, I traveled across the whole country.
How dis young ass nigga spending old money?"
I'm bored. My time.
Eloquent words? I type them.
Noobs on Call of Duty? I snipe them.
Pretty girls? I like them.
Alright, time to end this man's whole career. But I'm not a rapper.
I'm an OCD mouse. I stack that cheese.
I'm so hot I can hotwire this car. No keys.
Pea coat. Wool hat. Shoes. Call me pea coat wool hat shoes man.
I'm rubber you're glue, man
so every thing you say bounces off me and sticks to you. Man.
But I'm not a rapper.
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