ACRN Week Special

This week, ACRN is turning 42. That's crazy! Forty-two years of music have gone by in the span of ACRN's existence. I've been alive for less than half of that impressive run, and Stack That Cheese has been around for an even shorter amount of time. While it would be nearly impossible to figure out what were the best releases in the span of ACRN's 42 years, it's fairly plausible to be able to do that for Stack That Cheese's run. So, why not do that? Let's look back at the year thus far and hand out awards to the best and most re-dic-yu-lus mixtapes that have been covered in Stack That Cheese.

The Best:

This was extremely difficult to figure out. There have been a lot of quality mixtapes that I have covered in Stack That Cheese's relatively short existence--so much so that I felt I had to split up this category. Because mixtapes can come from much different circumstances, I figured it would only be fair to separate the major releases from the mixtapes that barely made a splash.

The Best Major Release:

OCD: Moosh & Twist - Back to the Basement

This is one of the newest "good" mixtapes and that means that this award could have been affected by my emotions surrounding it being fairly recent. Hell, I'm pretty certain that's the reason I still like this mixtape so much.

But it's still such a good mixtape. I wrote about why I liked it already, obviously. But I might as well explain why it beat out it's biggest competitors.

One of Back to the Basment's biggest competition was Action Bronson's Rare Chandelliers. As I said when I reviewed it, it was just so brutal. And in the best possible way. Action Bronson is just an overall scary person and it comes out on Rare Chandelliers.

This was the hardest to decide. For one, Rare Chandelliers by far has the best cover of any mixtape that I reviewed. How could you not love a .gif for a mixtape cover? Secondly, Action Bronson has one of the best Twitters of any rap artist. His randomness is up there with Tyler, the Creator. However, if the things I remember most about your mixtape are your cover and how it led me to some great late-night tweets, then there are probably some better mixtapes out there.

The other dark horse for this category was Hoodie Allen's return to quality rap on Crew Cuts. This one was much easier because as I was deciding just which mixtape was the best, I realized the song I go to most on Crew Cuts is the one featuring OCD. And if OCD was the best part of Crew Cuts, then a mixtape of only them must be great.

Best Underground Release:

Blake Allee - Televisionn

This one wasn't even nearly as hard. In fact, the reason I made this a category was because I didn't want to try to figure out whether I liked this mixtape better than Back to the Basement or not. It just sounded like a daunting task that I wasn't ready to conquer.

This one is easily Blake Allee's to lose. Televisionn is the most creative mixtape that I've listened to all year. The beats are so different than what anyone else is doing, his lyrics are riddled with clever wordplay and complex rhymes and it has a really intelligent theme.

Sure, there was competition. Rubixx's To the Third and Cinos' #ChaosControl2 were among the biggest standouts. But neither were nearly as creative as Televissionn, along with having their own problems. So, the fake award goes to Allee.

Biggest Disappointment:

Pusha T - Wrath of Caine

I already went over why I didn't like this mixtape all that much, so I'm not going to bore you with me explaining it again.

Instead I'm just going to say why it was so disappointing.

Pusha T has always been a good rapper, going all the way back to his Clipse days. Wrath of Caine, though, was really his first major solo release. After being such a great rapper beforehand, both as one-half of Clipse and in various guest spots, it was expected to be fantastic. Instead, it was just mediocre. 

Now, if this category was the worst mixtape, Pusha T wouldn't be even close. It was probably among the best of "the bad." However, it shouldn't have even been bad. He's better than this. But on Wrath of Caine, he didn't prove it.

Most Re-Dic-Yu-Lus:

Lil Poopy - Coke Ain't a Bad Word

Was there anyone else who even had a chance against Lil Poopy? He's like a mini French Montana who's not even that good at a normal size and after actual experience. That's perfect. The only thing cooler would be if 2 Chainz had a mini-me. Now that would be amazing.

Another thing to say for Poopy is that he got me hooked on these little kid rappers. They're hilarious! Screw Degrassi, little kid rappers are my new guilty pleasure.

Sorry, Drake

Most Based:

Lil B - Pink Flame

Ok, some one could have beaten Lil Poopy out for most re-dic-yu-lus. But that's not fair to Lil Poopy if I put him up against Based God. And I'm not about to pick on a little kid. (It's funny, because by judging an eight-year-old's rapping skills, I am kind of picking on him.)

This might have been the toughest category to judge over all. I mean, how does one even begin to judge a mixtape's basedness?

Well, for starters, it must be by Lil B. That narrowed it down to three.

After that, I was lost. What makes a Lil B mixtape so based? Is it his clever wordplay? His brilliant lyrics? His bumping beats?

After many days of intense thought, I realized that basedness is not a measurable quality. It's something that's just unexplainable, like the size of the universe or whether the chicken came before the egg.

So I left it up for the Based God to decide. I printed out a picture of each mixtape cover and threw them up in the air. And then, Pink Flame was struck by lightning, thus symbolizing that it was so based.

That and "Eat" is one of my favorite Lil B songs of all time. Thank you, Based God.

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