King Los, Soulja Boy, Waka Flocka

The Good:

King Los - Zero Gravity II

Last year, Los evolved into King Los on one of the better mixtapes of 2013, Becoming King. And following typical Los fashion, the Baltimore rapper released yet another mixtape after big career news. This time around, it's his departure from Diddy's (or Puff Daddy's?) Bad Boy Records.

King Los has been signed to Bad Boy twice, once under Bloc Incorporated and the second and latest deal with Interscope Records. According to Los, this past deal ended because of problems with Interscope, not Bad Boy. But either way, this could mean dire news for Los.

Luckily for the king, it has yet to affect him too much. Zero Gravity II is just about as good as his last.

As always, King Los delivers on just about every verse. The "Control Freestyle" track is the perfect example of this. The Big Sean song turned Kendrick Lamar vehicle is the perfect beat for a lyricist like Los. Changing tempos multiple times and constantly having bars as hot as "I write a verse in reverse that reverses the Earth's spin" make the listener forget this song ever belonged to another spitter. Plus, he proves to be a merciful king, ending the song by complimenting some of the best rappers out there.

And production, per usual, is on point for the most of ZG2. "Hard Time" heavily samples Suzanne Vega's "Tom's Diner" (which can also be heard in Kevin Cossom's "I Get Paper"). The slowed down sample deserves some head-bobbing with every listen and Kobe, Mark Battles and Shanica Knowles stop by for dynamite features.

That being said, there are some slight problems if you're nitpicking. With the Bad Boy breakup comes less connections which leads to less features. On Becoming King, everyone from Pusha T to Wiz Khalifa to Puff himself stopped by for guest spots. Granted, the themes of the mixtapes are different and Los is more than fine on his own, but some of the features on the last go-around were quite entertaining and they will be missed.

And of course, there's the constant problem with King Los: his lack of formula. Los has always been a fantastic lyricist, and it's that skill that allows him to get away with this issue. But if Los would get away from the Auto-Tune-heavy hooks and the heavy use of freestyles over other rapper's songs, he might be able to be more successful. Once again, I doubt that's Los' worry, especially since he just left his biggest supporter in Puff. But it does keep him from reaching his fullest potential.

King Los is hardly in any danger of losing his throne any time soon, even if it has left the Bad Boy Kingdom. He's still as good of a lyricist as ever and will be for a long time. And who knows, maybe the extra creative freedom will lead him to grow as an artist and maybe even release a real album. Maybe.

The Re-dic-yu-lus 1:

Soulja Boy -  King Soulja 2

That's right, homies! We have two re-dic-yu-lus mixtapes this week! Oh my lawd, I'm so excited, not even snow in spring could stop me.

The first re-dic-yu-lus mixtape is almost too old. Soulja Boy's King Soulja 2 was released a week ago, but I'm going to allow it because I love hating Soulja.

I mean, there's just so much to not like! Take the song "In Love With Me." It starts out alright with a half decent beat that I could probably get into if, say, Vic Mensa was behind it. With some decent lyrics and any resemblance of a flow, this might actually be a good song.

But Soulja Boy doesn't have either of those things. Soulja doesn't even default to his go-to yell/sing "flow," but instead just abuses Auto-Tune to the point that the listener can barely even understand him.

Then there's the remix of Drake's "We Made It" just in time for the Jay Electronica and Jay-Z to scorch it in their version. Not even the Drake feature could save this track. The OVO artist is too "Versace Versace" on this one, where Electronica and HOVA are real, unfiltered rap.

And then there's the ultimate piece of Based music: a feature from Lil B. I could write an entire post about this song, titled "I Got That Sack," alone. I mean, Lil B and Soulja Boy? In the same song? It's March! That's way too early for Christmas!

"I Got That Sack" is everything you could ever want from the duo. There's a repetitive beat, plenty of awesome ad libs on Based God's part and the line "Ohio girls make that pussy work the same way." He doesn't even clarify what he means by "same way!" But you got a shout out regardless, Ohio girls, and you should celebrate that!

Sadly, no amount of Based God features could save King Soulja 2. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish Soulja would return to "Crank That" form.

Wow. That's just embarassing.

The Re-dic-yu-lus 2:

Waka Flocka - Re-Up

Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!

Young Thug is on a song! I love him. I love him so much. I can't stop. It's an addiction, I realize, but oh my God, I can't stop. He's gonna save this bitch like Danny Glover! What's not to love!?

Okay, calm down there, Xavier. You're getting out of hand.

Deep breath.

Okay, I'm good. But yeah, this Waka tape is quite a treat. Actually, I do have to say I've grown to like Waka a little bit since getting more into the current Atlanta movement. Don't get me wrong--I still don't really like him by any means (besides the ironic way that makes me seem more hip). But guys like Young Thug and Young Scooter certainly owe guys like Waka for helping develop this new Southern sound.

That being said, this mixtape is still mostly crap. The Young Thug feature, coming in the form of a hook and a verse on "Ain't No Problems," is certainly a bright spot. The song sounds vaguely like Tech N9ne, which has never been quite my style, but is better than Waka's usual sound. And Waka and Thugger have pretty decent chemistry.

There's also "Cook Jug," featuring Young Scooter. And while the beat is as generic as generic can get, one can always count on Young SCOOOOTA to get ig'nant.

But then you're left with songs like "Lottery," where Flocka is alone, and you remember why Waka is reserved for times of ignorance. Somewhere between the multiple "Squad" shouts and the random laser synth, the listener is left wishing there was more Thug or Scooter. Granted, I think that on every song, but especially so with Waka Flocka.

Red Cafe, Shy Glizzy & Lil B

The Good:

Red Cafe - American Psycho II

One of my biggest fears as a hip-hop reviewer is a mixtape coming around that makes me look like a foolish hypocrite. If you're a regular viewer of this blog, you know how much I stress quality lyrics. I've put down many a rapper who had a pretty good mixtape, but just didn't have the lyrics to earn my support.

And then there are those mixtapes that overlook lyrics for sick beats, but their production is so good that I can't help but love it. YG and Rockie Fresh both did it in the same week and I still haven't gotten over it. This week, Red Cafe joins them with American Psycho II.

The first American Psycho

Red Cafe has been around for a minute, releasing mixtapes since 2006. Hailing from Brooklyn, he's been signed to Akon and Diddy's respective labels. But American Psycho II is his first release since the first Psycho in late 2012.

The mixtape, hosted by DJ Whoo Kid (whoooo kiiiiddd) and the LA Leakers, seems to meet somewhere in between college and gangster rap. Separately, the two genres are flawed by nature. But together, they're almost too good to be true. So good, in fact, that it makes up completely for Red Cafe's lack of good lyrics.

A perfect example is "I Love This Shit," featuring the king of lyric-topping beats, DJ Mustard himself. In typical DJ Mustard fashion, there's some simple, but banging bass and some hard-hitting horns. It's generic Mustard, but damn, is it bumping. It's enough to make one forget that the hook is repetition of the song's title and the rhymes are made out of single syllables.

Then there's the more college rap side of things with "A World Alone," which heavily samples Lorde's song of the same name. And by "heavily sample," I mean just lay some hip-hop drums over the instrumental. I wish I could use this to fuel any potential anger, but I can't help but bob my head to this. Plus, any rapper who can see how amazing Lorde is automatically earns my vote.

Luckily, I can use the excuse, "Well, he does a lot of great features." This list includes, but is not limited to, Young Jeezy, Akon, Jeremih, Ace Hood, Tory Lanez, Kevin Cossom and Shyne. And that doesn't include the two biggest features on "Boss Bitches and Fast Cars."

The previously mentioned song features borderline superstar Pusha T and the always quality Fabolous. Neither delivers his best verse on this song, but plenty of good lines are dished, like Fabolous' "Walk bitch I'm not the fella for you / I cut a dame off--Roc a fella shorty" and Pusha's verse-ending "Got your feelings crushed like the ice in a blender."

Red Cafe has a lot to improve on if he ever wants to be considered a good rapper. But he's already figured out how to make a good mixtape, so I don't see why he would ever feel the need to actually become a good lyricist. I like American Psycho II, I just hate how much I like it.

The Bad:

Shy Glizzy - Young Jefe

There are the Young Thugs of the world, who find some way to sound amazing by using some off-kilter ad-libs. Then there are the Shy Glizzies of the world, who are modeled off that same mold, just not as good at it.

On Young Jefe, Shy Glizzy seems to try everything in his power to become a Young Thug, but he's just a little off, and not in the good way. And the thing about this new brand of ad-lib rappers is that, when it's done right, it's mind-bogglingly good. But when it's done any less than perfect, the whole thing is ruined.

Isn't Maddy ying beautiful?

One prime example of Shy Glizzy trying but failing to accomplish this near impossible feat is the song "Medellin." The song, titled after the city in Columbia, is filled with random shouts and screams. The chorus alone sounds like "Maddy ying / Maddy maddy yayo." And Shy's verse is filled with "kaw"s and "bring bring"s. And Young Scooter, whose Street Lottery I actually liked a bit, stops by to deliver some help. But because it's not done absolutely perfectly in its randomness, it's not even close to good enough.

Another high-profile trap artist, Gudda Gudda, stops by in "I'm a Star." The heavy-hitting beat is a good start for the egotistically-titled song. And Gudda Gudda delivers a surprisingly tolerable verse. But Shy Glizzy can't do the same. He's got the off-pitch singing. And the sporadic "skirt skirt"s. But once again, it's not good enough.

Young Thug in a dress. Really.

Hell, Young Thug himself even stops by on not one, but two occasions. And there's barely a difference between Glizzy and Thug on both tracks, except for the fact that I can, for the most part, understand Glizzy. I should be praising him for not going so far as to be incomprehensible. But I love Thug. I can't help it.

I wish I had even the slightest idea how to describe what makes Young Thug enjoyable. I'm a failure as a hip-hop reviewer because of it. But Young Thug defies all logic. He plays by his own rules. Not in the cool, lawless way, either--he just doesn't follow rhythm or normal musical standards. I should not just dislike him, but I should hate him. And yet, I'm mad at Shy Glizzy for not being enough like him.

But my love for Young Thug isn't the thing that's keeping Young Jefe from being a quality tape. No matter how you feel about Thug, Glizzy's tape clearly sounds more like an imitator than an original, and that's never how a rapper gets good. He's got some potential to be a good bad rapper, but he has to be original before this can happen.

The Based:

Lil B - Basedworld Paradise

As is tradition, I must pray to He Who Is Based before reviewing a Lil B mixtape.

Dear Based God,

I do not deserve you

You are my savior

My almighty favorite rapper

When 05 Fuck Em was released, I listened to every song wit a smile on my face.

But, when I went to write the review about it, I failed you.

I could not figure out how to describe the 101-piece masterpiece

And so, as Valentine's Day rolled around

I knew I would fuck a bitch who couldn't be fucked by you, Based God.

And, as the prophesy foretold, I did.

But then, just three days later, you rose again

To fuck my bitch

And to become the second-coming of Yeezus

So, for that, Based God,

I thank you.

Amen.

Now that I had the privilege to talk to the holy Lil B, I can move on with my review of the amazing Basedworld Paradise.

I've gone over my obsession with covers before, and this is my new favorite cover. Not just for Based God, but for all time. Let's list what makes this the greatest mixtape cover of all time:

1. Kanye reference

2. Lil B face

That's all it takes.

Now, bad news, Bitch Mob. Basedworld Paradise is only 31 songs. That's a helluva lot less than 05 Fuck Em. But, while it's basically a Lil B version of an EP, it's still damn good.

The first words Lil B says on Basedworld Paradise are "I'm Tupac." Big words for a little B. And it's too bad that they prove to be wrong as the mixtape goes on. Because he's better than Tupac!

Take the song "Bring the Beat Back." Lil B goes about and beyond the call of duty, even rapping words with more than one syllable. He raps "business" with "fitness" and "big tits." #Genius. And then he beat boxes! Sure, he sounds a little like a chicken, but the most based chicken of all time. Just call him Kentucky Based Chicken. Or something else that doesn't sound horrible. I bet Lil B could come up with something clever.

Or "Based Memories," which has production with all the swag of a keytar. Honestly, Lil B can make anything amazing. Young Thug can only work a dress. Lil B could work a chastity belt. The only reason he doesn't is because the laws of Basedianity state he must fuck every bitch.

Lil B is a mastermind. If this doesn't prove it so, then your bitch doesn't deserve to be fucked by the Based God. My Based God have mercy on your soul.

Midseason Award Show

Another semester has come and gone. We've had some good times here at Stack That Cheese. We've heard some great mixtapes and some not so great mixtapes. And then there's the downright re-dic-yu-lus. We are gathered here tonight to recognize those mixtapes that graced our ears and this blog the past few months. So put your headphones in, sit back and enjoy the ride.

The Best:

Vic Mensa - Innanetape

This one was not a hard award to hand out. Vic Mensa went above and beyond what is to be expected of a mixtape. This could have been released as a legitimate album and it still would have surpassed any possible expectations.

Chicago's already a hotbed for great hip-hop, but thanks to Mensa and frequent collaborator Chance the Rapper, the Windy City became the leader for rap at the moment.

Innanetape's vast range of influences and featured artists made the tape not only one of the best mixtapes of the year, but one of the best releases of 2013 period.

Best Supporting Rapper:

Ab-Soul on Innanetape

I told you that Innanetape had a lot of great featured artists and I wasn't kidding. This included Chance the Rapper, Rockie Fresh and even Thundercat. But Solo's verse and hook on the heart-wrenching "Holy Holy" was above and beyond the best guest verse on the mixtape.

In his verse, Ab-Soul raps about the loss of his girlfriend Alori Joh, who committed suicide back in 2012. With lyrics like "She live through me until I die, this is what love sounds like / I'm her baby boy, she my rib. I'm always by her side," it's hard not to feel for the Black Hippy member.

Big K.R.I.T. was a close second in this category thanks to his verse on Big Sant's "Fire Water II," but nothing can beat Solo's story.

Best Missed Mixtape:

Action Bronson - Blue Chips 2

This category is almost too easy. Bronson quickly become one of my favorite rappers and I was looking forward to Blue Chips 2 for a while. Sadly, though, I wasn't able to review it due to the fact that I was psyched for Kanye's concert in Columbus. I regretted the omission a little at the time, but after Kanye canceled on me (wipes tear from face) I was even more upset about my decision.

Bronson delivers as usual thanks to his badass-meets-teddy-bear flow. But the thing that really put Blue Chips 2 over the top was the production by Party Supplies, who made Blue Chips 2 one of the best produced mixtapes of the year.

Best Female Lead:

Mary Gold - Sex Hormone'd Druggie

Considering she was the only female to crack Stack That Cheese so far this year, Mary Gold is a no-brainer. But that doesn't mean she's any less impressive.


Gold is the newest signee to Curren$y's Jet Life label and boy did she prove her worth. On Druggie, Gold took stoner rap to a whole new, more experimental level. The only problem with Curren$y inking a deal with Gold is that she might soon surpass Spitta himself as the best of Jet Life.

Most Re-dic-yu-lus:

Pyes - Pyes & Pounds

This is probably the hardest category to decide. There's so many horrible mixtapes to choose from. There's Gucci Mane's Diary of a Trap God. Or how about Young Sam's disgrace to stoner rap on Wake & Bake? And of course there's Waka Flocka's latest escapade.

But worse than all of the rest is Pyes. Yes, he has such a re-dic-yu-lus name and that certainly doesn't hurt his credibility, But Pyes' true re-dic-yu-lus-ness comes from his Seussian rhyme scheme, horrible beats and, of course, spelling errors. He opened up Season 2 and boy did he open it up right.

Most Based:

Sigh. This is the saddest part of Season 2 thus far. This category usually has plenty of competion due to the fact that Lil B releases mixtapes constantly. But over the past few months, Based God has been quiet.

I could give this award to Soulja Boy, but he doesn't deserve this. No one deserves this. Until Lil B comes back, this category shall remain empty as a tribute to the Based God in hopes that he descends from Based Heaven and fucks all our bitches. Amen, Lil B. Amen.

-X-Prime, dropping the mic for now
@XavierVeccia

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.

Based Easter

Easter is an important holiday to many, whether that be because it has an important religious meaning to that person or because Peeps are so goddamned good. To me, though, it's important because there's a new Lil B mixtape out and I love to review Lil B mixtapes. You kids out there can have Peeps and eggs--I'll stick to my Based God.

The Good:

D. Lector - Bars Attack!

Chris Webby used to be one of my favorite rappers. When I used to think I could rap, songs like "Webster's Revenge" and "Temper, Temper" were what I listened to in order to write the best lyrics that my very sub-par skills could possibly create.

But he just hasn't been the same as of late. Bars on Me was a decent mixtape, but it's not nearly as creative as some of his earlier work.

You may be asking, "Why's this dude writing about Chris Webby when this mixtape is by D. Lector?" It's because D. Lector is another Connecticut native, just like Webby. The whole time I was listening to Webby, I thought he was a one-of-a-kind rapper with his own unique style. But it seems his style is more regional than I thought. And with Webby on a downslide, I need my CT fix. Luckily, Lector is just what I needed.

Lector sounds a lot like Webby. They both have that same fast, crisp flow and very similar voices. And they both are very good at metaphors and similes when it comes to rapping. But While Webby is much more focused on wittiness, Lector goes harder with his raps and focuses more on his craziness.

"Lector's quite menacing / Threatening
to eat that venison" 

"Psycho," as the title should tell you, is one of those songs in which he focuses on his craziness. Similar to Webby, he also uses a couple beats made famous from others. "Psycho" uses the beat from 50 Cent's "In Da Club." Lector surprisingly shows up and makes you forget about Fitty momentarily. And his lyrics truly do show his crazy side, as he raps, "So high and fly, man I'm Peter Panning / Eating Bambi / Beauty, I'm a beast with the word play / Trying to three-way with Jessica Rabbit and Ariel, the Mermaid."

The title track, "Bars Attack," is another quality track that shows Lector's skills. The beat is strong, featuring some strings and an ambient sample from Kanye West's "Mercy." One of his strongest string of rhymes is also very appropriate as he spits, "You can see that I'm sick / If not, you piece of shit / Go beat your dick / I'm gonna eat your peeps like it's Easter, bitch."

There's also a fantastic cypher featuring Los Fidel, Kid Karma, Rook and Meta4s (which has to be one of the greatest names of all time). Every rapper shows up and it's a great addition, showing how important lyrics are to Lector.

Bars Attack! is an extremely quality mixtape, as D. Lector uses his CT flow and his knack for lyrics to show that Connecticut is more than just Webby.

The Bad:

Dollabillgates - YSL

It's that time again: Professor X-Prime's Rap 101. This week's lesson is picking a name.

When you're a young wannabe MC, it can be tough coming up with a name. If you ever do make it (you probably won't if you're coming to a blog for advice), it'll be the name that sticks with everybody. 

Some, like Eminem, just make their alias reflect their real name (Eminem = M & M = Marshall Mathers). Others just like to be creative and choose a name that they thinks sounds cool. If you take this route, your name will be even more important, because it reflects what kind of music you make. Hoodie Allen makes pop culture-oriented music that reflects his pop culture-oriented name. And Joey Bada$$ is, well, a badass. 

"I invented Microsoft / You just stroke
your micro cock."

Dollabillgates clearly chose the latter (I'm 99.9% sure this isn't the actual Bill Gates). And when one looks at the name Dollabillgates, one doesn't think, "What a creative name that most likely reflects this young man's originality." Instead, one would more likely think, "I have to see how bad this dude is."

That was me when I saw the name "Dollabillgates." There was no way he could be good. I would bet my life, my future children, even my snapbacks that Dollabillgates was going to be pretty damn bad. And I would have been able to live a long life to see my kids grow old and pass down my old snapbacks to their kids. (Can't wait to see my grandchildren rocking my Seattle Supersonics hat. It'll be even more retro in 60 years!)

Dollabillgates confirmed my suspicions about YSL, which is short for Yung Switch Lanes, on his first track, "Childish." He raps about money just as much as you would expect someone with the name of Dollabillgates to, rapping about how he's "Losing sleep counting guap." But I might have underestimated his badness. I had no clue that I should expect lines as bad as "He has thirty cars / Dayum." Lil B might have competition in this one (just kidding, Based God never has competition).

But DBG certainly gives Lil B a bit of a run for his money on the song, "#LemThurdy." I will give you unlimited guesses to try to figure out what "#LemThurdy" means. No, not thirty lemons. Nor is it a leprechaun named Lem Thurdy. Give up? Here's some help from the chorus. "I don't hit the club until a lem thurdy." You got it. "#LemThurdy" is DBG's way of saying 11:30. 

That's it. I give up. I'm done with you, Dollabillgates. I need more Based God to make me feel better.

The Re-dic-yu-lus:

Lil B - PYT (Pretty Young Thug)

And Lil B with the three peat! The Triple Crown! The trifecta! That first artist to make Stack That Cheese not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES!

Thank Based God, too. Because I have some praying to do to Lil B. If you remember from last week, I was pretty psyched/nervous/freaking the heck out about March Madness. One of the games I was most freaked out about was Marquette-Davidson, a game in which I picked the underdog, Davidson. So what did I do, I prayed to Based God through tweet.

But it went horribly wrong. Read the tweet and let me know if you can figure out what sin I made.

Dear Based God, please let Davidson keep this up right now. I'll even let you fuck my bitch! Just help me out

I know. It's horrible. Inexcusable. Despicable. I said I would let him fuck my bitch. How could I be so stupid? You don't let Lil B fuck your bitch. You hope and pray that he does. So what happened? Davidson lost and so did just about every other team I picked that day. All because I angered the Based God.

So now I must repent. Let me just light my Based candles and put on my ceremonial Based robe before I start the prayer.

Ahem.

Dear Based God,

I can not apologize enough

For the fatal error that I made last week

How uncouth, nay, unbased of me

To give you permission to fuck my bitch

You're above permission

You're above all

From little children to Barack Obama

You're even above Oprah

And here I am

Giving you permission

I would be privileged

If you graced me with your bitch fucking abilities

You deserve better disciples

In your Bitch Mob Squad

So, please, forgive me for my sins

And please fuck my bitch.

Left hand Cyrus, right hand Cyrus, Amen.

I'm hoping the release of PYT is a sign that he has forgiven me. He wouldn't release a mixtape so beautiful if he didn't.

And PYT is quite beautiful. "Alota Bitches" is a feel good track that makes the listener just want to dance and snap his or her fingers. Lil B also shows a bit of his self-conscious side as he asks, "Would you be mad if I said I had 52 bitches," before dismissing it, saying, "I don't care, niggas know I got bitches on my dick." I'm glad that Lil B got out of that five-second funk of his by realizing he just needs to be himself and fuck bitches.

Lil B also addresses the "ratchet" issue that we've all been clamoring for him to do on "Ratchet 510." And just like we thought, he is in support of "ratchet hoes." He also admits, "The parties I like, we dance with guns." As much as I would want Lil B to come to Athens, I just don't think we're ready to keep up with him if those are the kind of parties he likes.

It's really just an eye-opening mixtape in general. PYT lets us get into the inner workings of Lil B's mind and lifestyle, so that we can come to better understand our almighty Based God. And frankly, we as a world need to understand Based God more.

-- Xavier Veccia, dropping the mic for now.

@xprime_time

Just A Normal Day

Hey, Cheeseheads. How was your day? Mine was pretty normal. Because today was a normal day. Like, incredibly normal. Yep, nothing special happens in the middle of February, that's for sure. It's just a normal day. A normal Thursday with a normal Stack That Cheese post with no surprises.

The Good:

Problem & Iamsu! - Million Dollar Afro

I've gone over before how I often look at the covers and titles of mixtapes when trying to decide what mixtapes to look at. This, of course, applies to Million Dollar Afro. I've always greatly enjoyed afros. In fact, in fifth grade, I used to put a massive amount of mousse in my hair and I tried to shape my hair in the form of an afro. Needless to say, it was extremely unsuccessful. So now I just obsess over them, instead. And that led me to Problem & Iamsu!

If you've heard of Problem & Iamsu!, it's most likely because you're either a fan of theirs or you heard them on a Wiz Khalifa track. The duo from California is a frequent collaborator of Khalifa and was even featured on Cabin Fever 2 (the song, "Bout Me," is also featured on Million Dollar Afro). And after seeing Iamsu!'s afro, it's not hard to tell why. It's a pretty great afro. (Also, both smoke a vast amount of weed. That helps, too.) Just check it out in the title track's smokey music video.

The duo focuses on stoner music. As I've gone over in the past, stoner music is very hit and miss. Curren$y manages to make good stoner music, but Wiz has been struggling to do so as of late. And Million Dollar Afro is just as hit-and-miss.

"100 Grand" is one of those hits. For one, it has one of the harder beats on the album, compiled of hard bass lines, claps and synths that get the head bobbing. It's even nicer when Problem & Iamsu! and the features of Kool John and Juvenille go in on it. Problem and Kool John have the hottest verses as Problem spits, "Wood on the dashboard / All about the cash, board / Make the money fast forward / Make your bitch give me that like her ass forward" and Kool John raps, "We're fucking with my cash, man you're fucking with your life / I ain't saying I'm a theif, but a nigga fuck your wife."

T-Pain called. He wants his
auto-tune back. And some work.

The title track, shortened as "MDA," is one of the misses. All the potential is there, with an exciting beat that gets the listener pumped up and some nice verses from Iamsu! But the song features over-saturated Auto-Tune. If it was limited to just the chorus, or if it was 2010, it wouldn't be as bad. But the Auto-Tune manages to make its way into the verses and that's just too much auto-tune in 2013.

Million Dollar Afro is far from perfect and features a few straight-up stupid songs that are hard to listen to, but the mixtape is saved by the hits like "Knock It Off" and "Hunnits."

The Bad:

Krondon - Everything's Nothing

The bad category is always the hardest to decide. It's not like the re-dic-yu-lus because it's not pointing out the blatantly bad, and it's not like the good because it's not giving praise. Sometimes, it's just adequate--not good and not horrible. This is one of those times.

Krondon's Everything's Nothing is alright. That's really the perfect way to describe it. He does some things right--he focuses on real topics and the beats are for the most part pretty good--but he also does some things very poorly.

Take the song "I'm Moving" for example. Krondon's probably at his best in some aspects of the song. For one, it has a catchy, somber/sweet chorus of, "I'm moving all my work today." And the song is about moving all of the supplies you have in order to make more money to support those around you. It's a topic heard many times before, but quality nonetheless.

Should've read more of this guy.

But all of this is rendered pointless because Krondon just doesn't deliver in other aspects. Krondon's main challenge is rhyming, surprisingly. Of course he can rhyme, but he mostly sticks to simplistic singular syllable rhyme schemes that seem forced. "Diamonds are forever / And this rhymer's kind of clever / Watch him turn crack rocks into cheddar" is actually one of his better lines, but the delivery around it isn't smooth at all.

Imagine if Kendrick Lamar wasn't so complex in Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City. What if he didn't have a song where he was rapping from the perspective of a teenager? Or if he dropped the comic relief provided by his parents' phone calls? Or if he didn't take the role of those who left his life in "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst?" What would Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City be then? It's not just good enough to have an interesting backstory and some good beats. In fact, it might be harder. Because that means you have to truly deliver in order to tell your story as best as it can be told.

Guys like Problem & Iamsu! have it easier. They just rap about weed and have a good time. As long as you have good beats and your rhymes are good, you're set. But Krondon has to do more because he has more to say. He just doesn't do enough on Everything's Nothing.

The Re-dic-yu-lus:

G FELLA - St. Valentine's Day Massacre

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! You thought I forgot, didn't you? My confusing intro and title threw you off, didn't it? I would never forget about you, Cheeseheads. I may not have gotten you guys chocolate or flowers or a fancy candle-lit dinner, but I did get you a horrible mixtape. I know you all so well, don't I?

Sadly, St. Valentine's Day Massacre isn't a very good Valentine's Day mixtape. There's no love-making R. Kelly, Barry White-type songs. It's actually quite violent. You probably should have guessed that from the word "massacre" in the title, but if you didn't, now you know.

So, to make up for giving you a violent mixtape instead of a sexy one, I'll give you some cards. Stack That Cheese cares.

You know this mixtape is going to be bad as soon as the chorus in the first song, "Massacre," begins. "No more excuses, no more chances / No more frenemies, no more cancers," raps G FELLA quite violently. Excuse me? Frenemies? I've never heard anyone say "frenemies" more angrily than G FELLA does. And then he starts the first verse by saying, "Go down on you harder than a dinosaur bite." To be fair, dinosaur bites do go down pretty damn hard.

You know what's harder than dinosaur bites, though? Listening to G FELLA's song "City Boy." (That transition doe.) Think of the most famous song that has the phrase "city boy" in it. If you guessed "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey, you're right! Your prize is another awesome Valentine's Day card right after this paragraph! (And if you didn't guess correctly, well, you'll still see the card, but only because I'm nice.) Now imagine it poorly sampled and you'll have "City Boy."

"City Boy" is about how G FELLA apparently grew up in a small town where "everybody knows everybody." How he portrays it, though, is just crazy. "Ice makes your wrist numb / Gold digger chicks come / Neighborhood chicks come / Beat them gold diggers up," he says. He then goes on to talk about how the cops didn't mess with him and his crew and just basically lists the people who lived there, before ending the song by shouting, "That's the city! That's the city I live in!" He clearly lived in quite the city.

I honestly don't know what to say about G FELLA's St. Valentine's Day Massacre. It's honestly horrible and isn't even as laughable as some of the other re-dic-yu-lus mixtapes of Stack That Cheese past. With that being said, it still made my Valentine's Day more enjoyable, and I hope it made yours better, too, Cheeseheads.

-- Xavier Veccia, dropping the mic for now.

@xprime_time

Daddy's Boys, Wakas and Based Gods! Oh my!

Earlier this week, it was announced that Kendrick Lamar will be headlining 11Fest. I'd be lying if I said the excitement from that news didn't cause me to spontaneously break out in dance. Multiple times. That excitement has carried into today and has put me in a good mood. And I'm passing that onto you, Cheeseheads, by giving you two re-dic-yu-lus mixtapes. You're welcome.

The Good:

Rich Hil - SYLDD (Support Your Local Drug Dealer)

Look at the man in that picture. Enlarge it if you must. Look at all those tattoos. They're everywhere! Even on the middle fingers he's using to cover his eyes. And the title of his album is Support Your Local Drug Dealer. This Hil guy is clearly a bad-ass.

Oh wait. What's that you say? Hil is actually short for something? It's short for what? Hilfiger? Like Tommy Hilfiger? As in, the company that made those salmon-colored shorts I own? That Tommy Hilfiger? He's Tommy Hilfiger's son? Are you serious? Well shit.

The Rich Hil of men's fashion

That's right, that faded-as-fuck individual in that album cover is the son of multi-millionaire fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger. Rich Hil is that classic kid who gets sick and tired of his rich daddy so he starts to rebel because if he falls, his rich daddy will be able to pick him back up. So he got loads of tattoos and started doing loads of drugs. This led him to music and music led him to Warner Brothers. SYLDD was slated to be his debut, but all that label crap that always gets in the way of artists got in his way and he decided to bypass it by being the rich rebel he is and releasing it online for free.

Hil's backstory isn't the typical backstory of a person in the hip-hop scene. This dude belongs in hip-hop as much as salmon-colored pants belong on a dude. But he's making hip-hop music and I'm wearing salmon shorts (I really like those shorts, guys).

Hil is the embodiment of the hip-hop hippie movement (I don't get it, but it's happening). He does copious amounts of drugs, his music is basically R&B but more ambient and more centered around guitars, and he's got an I-don't-give-a-fuck attitude. And his music does a good job of showing it.

The opening song, "Slickville" is the best example of the hippie image Hil has. The beat is a mixture of an acoustic guitar, drums and some ambient synths. Hil sings the first two-thirds of his song in his raspy voice that sounds as if it's been drenched in syrup. He then starts rapping, which isn't really his strong suit, but it's not bad and he mostly sticks to singing throughout the album.

He also has great features from The Weeknd, Leona Lewis and Fat Trel. "Nomads" with The Weeknd is probably one of the best songs, as The Weeknd's silky voice blends perfectly with Hil's song.

Hil's best song has to be "Xanax Bars." Imagine if one of the kids Frank Ocean sang about in "Super Rich Kids" made a song and that's what "Xanax Bars" basically is. When Hil says, "And the people in the street be staring when I walk / Go ahead Mr. Business man you can't dress like me" over the piano and electric guitar beat, it just seems as if Hil is being really self-reflective in a pretty beautiful way.

Even though having a rich daddy and coming from the lap of luxury doesn't seem like good fodder for a mixtape, Hil makes it just that. SYLDD is more than just hippie hip-hop as Hil takes a self-reflective turn. And it turns out well.

The Re-dic-yu-lus 1:

Waka Flocka - DuFlocka Rant 2

When you think "re-dic-yu-lus," if anyone else pops into your mind before Waka, you're doing it wrong. Waka is the physical manifestation of "re-dic-yu-lus." Honestly, I'm surprised it took ten posts until Waka ended up here. It's about damn time he did.

Waka's been going for a while and, according to his intro on DuFlocka Rant 2, after three years of rapping, he thinks he "made it." I guess he's not wrong. "No Hands" (the only Waka song I like) got some pretty legitimate hype and everyone knows who he is. So what if it's because he's so bad? Better than nothing, I guess.

But unless he's got Wale and Roscoe Dash coming on a song to provide some pretty decent verses, he's still just creating some horrendous hood-rat music.

Let's start with the first official song on DuFlocka Rant 2, "Stay Hood." Waka starts it off by making sure we know that he's "going to stay hood until the day that [he] die[s]." He then starts going off and rapping in his patented mumbling style. And then Lil Wayne comes on for the latter half of the song. Here's a good way to know that a rapper isn't good: Lil Wayne outperforms him. And that's with a Weezy verse that features the line "I'ma walk around wearing Jesus' crown."

"Parking in a no-parking zone?
That's a no-no."

"Shit Where You Sleep" is so bad it's laughable. It starts off with the line "He sellin' dope out his grandma's house / That's a no-no." If I ever win the lottery, the first thing I'm going to do is hire Waka Flocka to follow me and every time myself or someone around me does something dumb, he would say, "That's a no-no," because that's hilarious. He then goes on to say, "Stupid nigga, you don't shit where you sleep at," and "click-clack bwoh." Quick question: what does "bwoh" mean? To be fair, Ace Hood does a decent job on this song, but not well enough to make me forget about Waka.

The best thing about Waka Flocka is every time I listen to him, I have something new to say. From "Drunk 2 Much," off the original DuFlocka Rant, I got "uuuhhhhhh." From DuFlocka Rant 2, I get to take away "that's a no-no" and "bwoh." I'll take it.

The Re-dic-yu-lus 2:

Lil B - Pink Flame

We got our first ever two-time Stack That Cheeser! (Curren$y almost made it this week, too.) And I couldn't be happier that it's Lil B.

If you remember back at All Based Day I prayed to the almighty Based God. I think it's only right if we send up another prayer to Lil B. I hope you join me.

Dear Based God,

It's been awhile since we last talked.

We miss you down here on Earth.

I wish you would join us, but you are not mortal.

You are the most supreme being.

You are the reason I wake up in the morning

And the reason I go to bed at night.

You are the wind beneath my swag

The peanut butter to my swag jelly

If you're a bird

Then I'm a bird

Just a bird with less swag and bitches.

I don't ask much of you Based God

So please just grant me this one thing.

Fuck my bitch.

Amen.

Now that we've got that over with, let's get down to the nitty-gritty. And this nitty-gritty isn't very pretty. (Fun fact: that's a more complex rhyme than anything on Pink Flame.) Pink Flame got a fair amount of hype from the track "I'm the Bada$$," which was a diss track on Joey Bada$$. Joey Bada$$ is probably one of the best rappers going on right now. Despite being young, he seems to have a better handle on rapping than a lot of the people who have been doing it longer than he has. Needless to say, Bada$$ is way out of Lil B's league. But that didn't stop the Based God from going after him.

The song really isn't much of a diss track, as Lil B doesn't land any hard blows. The best line he has is probably, "Niggas say you doing bad but you can't get a job." "Bad" of course refers to Joey Bada$$ and by saying he can't get a job, he's comparing himself to Bada$$. This a shout out to the line from the late Capital Steez of Bada$$'s Pro Era in Bada$$'s song "Survival Tactics" in which Steez says, "tell the Based God don't quit his day job" which started the beef in the first place. Other than that, Lil B's pretty soft. Bada$$ of course responded much hotter on "Don't Quit Your Day Job" later on. And that's why Pink Flame was so hyped.

But that doesn't make Pink Flame any different from any other Lil B mixtape. It's still just as hysterically bad as any other of his mixtapes. "Eat" is the funniest/worst track on Pink Flame.

It starts off with an 8-bit snippet of "Pop Goes the Weasel" and then the bass drops. Then the hook starts, where Lil B explains through song how one needs to let him know that one's bitch is good before he fucks her. (I knew I forgot something.) And that's just the beginning. There's two verses of Lil B brilliance on this one. There's "25 bitches wanted me to fuck 'em / I can't do that 'cause I'm conceited." Or how about "You fucked the Based God, bitches love the Based God / 56 bitches and I look like Based God." There's also "You went to sleep at 5, I went to sleep at 6 / My bitch is my alarm clock 'cause she wakes me up." You know what, the last one is my favorite. He goes to bed an hour later and he explains the concept of an alarm clock! Thank you, Based God.

My alarm clock isn't a bitch

And there's many more gems like that on Pink Flame. From "1000 Bitches" to "Love N Hate," there are so many beautiful pieces that I'm even willing to look past the fact that he attempted dissing Joey Bada$$. I'm sorry for ever doubting you, Based God. Please forgive me.

-- Xavier Veccia, dropping the mic for now.

@xprime_time