I'm Reviewing My Own Mix CD. Wha!? Mar 28 '05    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 Mai by Eri Sugai From $4 The Bottom Line I like my own mix CD. Does that really help you make a decision on whether or not to buy a non-existent CD? I really couldn’t explain to you why I’m doing this. Blame it on the reefer in my system (although I’m definitely sobering up.) Maybe I’m just bored. Maybe I’m crazy. I don’t know. To explain at least the back story to this: I’ve recently been obsessed with making mixtapes based on certain producers that I love and these things have been banging in my car like crazy. I guess I felt like sharing their contents to the world and in turn reviewing my own mix CD (talk about a bias.) I’ll try my best to be objective but I also hope that the people that read this may learn to appreciate this particular producer. If this ends up being pretty successful I’ll show you my second mixtape. Otherwise, this will stand as the one crazy Epinions moment I’ve had. Note: This is a track-by-track review seeing as how it’s a mixtape I can’t really judge the album as a whole. To be very blunt: this is going to be long. Vol. 1: The Alchemist 01. Dilated Peoples – Marathon 02. Mobb Deep – Win or Lose 03. Nas – My Way 04. Defari – Checkstand 3 05. Dilated Peoples – The Platform 06. Big Noyd – The Grimy Way (featuring Prodigy) 07. Pharoahe Monch – No Mercy (featuring M.O.P.) 08. Cormega – The Legacy 09. Mobb Deep – Thug Muzik (featuring Infamous Mobb & Chinky) 10. Jadakiss – Feel Me 11. Dilated Peoples – Worst Comes to Worst 12. Nas – No Idea’s Original (Stillmatic Limited Edition Version) 13. Twin Gambino – B.I.G. T.W.I.N.S. 14. Ghostface Killah – The Forest 15. Prodigy – Keep It Thoro 16. Mobb Deep – Get at Me 17. Nas – Book of Rhymes 18. Jadakiss – Still Feel Me 19. The Alchemist – Different Worlds (featuring Twin Gambino) Ok, so it wasn’t hard for me to figure it out. Marathon was a great start to Neighborhood Watch and hence I stole the idea and used it as the opening track to my mix. It’s a pretty banging Alchemist beat with Dilated doing what they normally do which is brag. That seems to be all Dilated does but I love it anyways and this definitely is a great way to get the blood flowing. Win or Lose was easily my favorite song on Amerikaz Nightmare so I had to snatch that shit for my mix. That beat is so catchy and soulful and Mobb Deep completely tear it to shreds. Yes, even Prodigy. He’s so hated nowadays even though really the only thing that left was his charisma. Yes, I know that’s a bad thing but people talk like his lyrics are awful nowadays. They’re no worse than they were back in his heyday. End of rant. The Lost Tapes was one of those albums that took time to grow on me. The beats just didn’t click with me at first, though, through repeated listenings I learned to like the production. One beat that I always loved even before I “acquired the taste”, as it were, was My Way. Alchemist laces this with some killer piano. Its genius is in its simplicity. Soul is the keyword here and Nas of course plays on Al’s beat with his smooth flow and what we have here is yet another banger. Bump it. I’ll put down a dub that maybe 5 of you in total have heard Checkstand 3 by Defari. Yeah, Odds & Evens got quite a bit of Epinions praise (and rightfully so) but Focused Daily, his debut, is HEAVILY slept on. Not by me. Checkstand 3 is great. Defari describes a tale of a fine Italian woman (via Puerto Rico) who he meets at the checkstand. You know he has to holla at that. Whoo. Oh, I mean, he gets her number and such and later on sees a local wise guy being arrested and then they show a picture of his wife who is… I bet you can figure it out from here. Do know that Defari never forgot the moral of the story (hear it for yourself.) Alchemist is of course on point pumping this with some grimy pianos that all make for a very ambiguous atmosphere. The Platform. Great album. Great song. Maybe I’m in the minority but I just can’t get enough of Dilated Peoples (hence their repeated appearance on this mix.) The Platform is the title track and probably my favorite song on the album. Alchemist uses a sick piano loop with hard hitting drums and banging bass to make this an absolute banger for your deck. I dare you to bump this with a sound system. I must be the only one who loved Lyricist Lounge Vol. 2 (at least with all the people I’ve talked to.) There were maybe 2 tracks I didn’t like but otherwise the album was straight fire. The Grimy Way was definitely my favorite beat on the album (Alchemist has that power) and Big Noyd’s braggadocio was pretty tight. This was getting heavy play when I had that burned copy of LL2 (I used to be a major bootlegger.) It’s nice to have it on here. The beat is just so… awesome. I don’t really know how else to explain it. Roc fans may recognize that Just Blaze used the same sample as Al did on this song for Memphis Bleek’s Everything’s a Go. Needless to say, it’s a great sample that made for 2 excellent beats though I definitely prefer this one over Everything’s a Go (sorry, Blaze.) Yo, you want to talk about grimy beats? Huh? Do you know about griminess? Sorry, I get a bit antagonizing sometimes. Well, if you think you know griminess and you haven’t heard Pharoahe Monch’s No Mercy (with M.O.P.), well, then you don’t know grimy. Plain and simple. All you have to do is hear Lil’ Fame screaming on those ultra-grimy strings (OW! That’s grimy.) and you will bob your motherfucking head. If not, well, then you have no soul, my friend. Seriously. Flow was pretty important to me while compiling this. I don’t know if you can notice that just by reading it (you’d really have to hear it) but the way that No Mercy ends and Cormega’s The Legacy kicks in, it just sound so… smooth. For some reason moving from hardcore grimy shit to slightly bouncy introspective shit manages to melt like butter. Just like Cormega’s lyrics over this Alchemist beat. It’s like a hot knife through butter, I swear. No, Mega’s flow isn’t exactly butter but his lyrics hit pretty close to home as he reminisces on everyone he’s ever known in the hood. I don’t think I need to say that Al’s beat is fire (even though I just did.) Peep it. And again, the flow comes in. The Legacy smoothly transitions into the menacing pianos of Thug Muzik, easily my favorite song on Mobb Deep’s outstanding Murda Muzik. This song also appeared on one of the Soul Assassin compilations (I couldn’t tell you which.) Infamous Mobb’s appearance only enhances the song (though Ty Nitty really needs to die.) The beat is fucking sinister and haunting. Perfect for the “cautionary” tales of Mobb Deep (which are pretty far from cautionary.) The only complaint I could have with the song is no Havoc. At all. He doesn’t do the beat and he doesn’t rap. Aww… Whoa. Feel Me is fire. Like, wow. I can’t even explain this to you. Alchemist and Jadakiss are like a match made in heaven. Don’t believe me? Just one listen to this so-called skit (it’s called Feel Me (Skit) on the album, I swear) and you will… well, you’ll feel him. Unless you’re a Kiss hater (and there are a lot of them out there), well, this won’t change your mind. It’s ill and Kiss is ill, I guess if you don’t like illness. I’m just playing. Kiss is pretty introspective on here, though, so if you don’t like Jada’s bragging than maybe you will like this (funny how I just contradicted myself.) Fire. Dilated’s second biggest single gets some air time on here; Worst Comes to Worst is a masterpiece. Ok, maybe I’m going too far but man, this is just too ill. Alchemist samples that all too famous “I Used to Be Your Lover” sample used by Killah Priest (One Step) and Ludacris (Growing Pains.) This is arguably the best use of the sample although that’s not to get on the other 2 songs I mentioned (they’re great as well.) Dilated Peoples completely rock this beat to the best of their abilities. Rakaa is absolute fire on here (I always felt he was better than Evidence) and the little cameo by Guru is… appropriate, I guess. I love this joint. Before you get it confused, no this is not the same No Idea’s Original as on The Lost Tapes (read the title.) One rule I have for all these mixes is not to use multiple songs from the same album. This is from a limited edition of Stillmatic and it’s way better than the one that got put on The Lost Tapes. Al actually produced both versions and while the one on TLT was pretty good, this is just fire. Plain and simple. The beat hooked me instantly and Nas’ lyrics are, as usual, insightful and, of utmost importance, true. Not to say everything Nas says is true but he’s definitely not lying when he says “no idea’s original.” Maybe I should just call it quits now because people are going to lose respect for me when I tell them I liked Free Agents: The Murda Mixtape. Ok, maybe they won’t lose respect for me but I’m definitely going to lose some credibility to someone (those people do exist, remember the dude that called DVON a clown for liking Ja Rule.) Do I really care? Contrary to my opening paragraph, (I sure do contradict myself a lot, don’t I?) I do not care. I loved it. B.I.G. T.W.I.N.S. was my favorite song on the album. The vastly overlooked (and underrated) Twin Gambino spits fire over this flaming Al beat. To be honest, I thought this was Premier when I first heard it. Seriously. When you hear the sample and the way it’s cut, it SCREAMS Preme, but yet, it’s our boy Al. Who’da thunk it? Bulletproof Wallets was pretty weak, I admit, but one song that definitely wasn’t weak was The Forest. Similar to Smut Peddlers’ My Rhyme Ain’t Done and Beanie Sigel’s Mac Man, Ghostface talks about well-known cartoon characters in modern and realistic situations. Like some of these characters are drug dealers or drug heads. It’s really amusing to hear Ghost spit these “lighthearted” hijinks especially over one of the best Alchemist beats I’ve ever heard. Keep It Thoro. Prodigy. Alchemist. Most likely, you all have heard this. If you haven’t, then you suck. Plain and simple. That piano is rugged and Prodigy spits his usual brand of gangsta bragging that while dated is still entertaining. The incredible Al beat pretty much kills any of Prodigy’s inconsistencies and make this a certified banger. Certified by who? By me. The only certification that matters. Ok, so maybe I shouldn’t have put a Mobb Deep track after a Prodigy track but Keep It Thoro flows so well into Get at Me (off of the awful Infamy) that I had to keep it. This beat is pure Alchemist gold (Get it? Hahahahaha, I’m so clever.) and Hav and Pee rip this beat to shreds (especially Havoc.) I always thought God’s Son was better than Stillmatic. I know I’m not alone but it’s pretty popular to like Stillmatic better. Ah, I’m digressing. Book of Rhymes was my second favorite song on God’s Son (next to Get Down.) Partly due to Nas’ creative concept of reading out of his book of rhymes, shitting on his own immaculately written rhymes, and continuing to flip from page to page (genius.) Partly due to Alchemist’s banging beat with a light dose of synthesizers and a very light guitar playing in the background. The tune will get you. If not then the rhythm will get you. If not then Nas’ lyrics or get you. If not then I guess you have no hope. I said before that Jada and Al = pure illness. They get to prove me right yet again. Still Feel Me is the sequel (duh) to Feel Me and it easily exceeds its predecessor. Alchemist’s beat is so silky smooth. That divine rising harp and smooth strings lead to pure hip-hop bliss. Jada’s vocals only seal the deal with more introspection coupled with his inclination towards multi-syllable rhymes and punchlines. You can feel him or you can Kiss his ass (ha, that’s so clever. Eh, not really.) And the finale is… the finale on 1st Infantry. Again, I’m not being original here but who cares. This thing closed out Alchemist’s awesome 1st Infantry and so it will close my first mixtape as well. This track is, in a word, genius. Alchemist raps on the track and does it fairly well talking about how he was raised in the suburbs of L.A. while Twin Gambino talks about being raised on the streets of QB. The way their situations contradict each other only plays together in the grand scheme of things. They say that even though they have two different stories they’re part of one picture i.e. they’re on this song together. The results are fantastic and easily one of the best songs of 2004. So, there it is. This will forever be remembered as Phil’s crazy moment on Epinions. Maybe it will be remembered positively or negatively but bottom line is that I just lost it, I guess. I’ve never done something like this. I hope some of you can appreciate what I’ve tried to do here but life goes on. If anything, I hope you check out some of the songs I’ve mentioned here and learn to appreciate Alchemist’s production like I have. I guess that’s it. Peace.

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