SEARCH FOR: MIXTAPES

While the idea of rap groups as a whole may be slowly disappearing in the rap game, we have been seeing tons of cliques and rap labels that may have tons of solo artists, but appear to have that group-like demeanor. As of late, we have seen Quality Control–home of rap acts lie Migos, Lil Yachty, Lil Baby, and more. Griselda Records consists of Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine & Benny the Butcher. Last but not least, we have seen YSL flourish in the rap game since Young Thug took the scene by storm. If you do a bit of digging, you will see Young Thug interacting with tons of members of YSL before they were famous as he built them up to become the stars they are today. Gunna used to appear in Thugger’s music videos before signing to his label, and a young and determined Lil Keed played his music for Thug before the fame and he ultimately ended up signing with Thug as well. Here we are today and Young Thug is here to showcase his latest body of work alongside his star-studded YSL crew, Slime Language 2. With the original Slime Language project dropping in 2018, it was met …

Many of you by now have undoubtedly heard of Iamdoechii. The Tampa, Florida-raised rapper’s song, “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake” is making its way across social media and is absolutely deserving of all the attention coming its way. My introduction to the burgeoning rap artist was through her song, “Spookie Coochie,” and from the onset, you could tell Iamdoechii had an indescribable charisma about her that found its way into her raps. With the current success of her previously released single, “Yucky Blucky Fruitcake,” Iamdoechii’s music is being propelled into more ears than ever before, leading her to release a new five-track EP titled, BRA-LESS, that is re-emphasizing her charismatic style. Her calculated effort in putting together a collection of songs that exemplify the kind of production, delivery, and sound that lingers around our favorite mixtapes, makes Iamdoechii’s latest release so special. From her cinematic opener, “BRA-LESS,” to the braggadocios nature of “PMS,” the utter freestyle atmosphere created on “TRUTH,” the energized bounce of “SHIT” and finally, Iamdoechii concludes her project with her previously released R&B single, “GIRLS.” In totality, Iamdoechii embodies all the elements of an artist whose prowess as a rapper combined with her silk-lined vocal ability as a singer culminate …

Dro Kenji has been absolutely tearing it up in the music scene over the past few months ever since beginning to work with Internet Money, and at this rate, it doesn’t seem like he’s ever going to leave the studio. His most recent EP EAT YOUR HEART OUT released a little more than a month ago and has already amassed over 3.5 million streams, and for good reason. This has caught the attention of more than just fans, as he’s now a contender for the coveted 10th spot on XXL’s Freshman class of 2021. While I personally think he has more than enough talents to make a case for this spot, I think that if he somehow misses out on it this year, he’s going to be a headliner the following year, so hopefully, they do things right and include him before he absolutely explodes. Nonetheless, Kenji is just going to continue playing by his own rules, and with the incredible support system of hitmakers he has surrounding him at Internet Money, he has all of the pieces in place to be one of the biggest stars to ever enter a recording booth. While I literally think it’s impossible for …

If you’ve been active on SoundCloud over the past few years, chances are at some point you have liked a song from the prolific supplier of underground music STRAPPED! which has faithfully been delivering music to the platform from the SoundCloud scene’s most popular artists to breaking lesser known talent often, giving them a platform full thousands of eager listeners. They recently unveiled their debut mixtape Stay Strapped, Vol. 1 which comprises a great deal of underground favorites as well as some relatively new names a chance to shine and effectively gives a great sampling of the scene, ranging from the glistening melodic atmosphere’s created by BIGBABYGUCCI, to the lyrically dense plugg stylings of Tony Shhnow who is most likely your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper right now, and even down the distorted ‘hyperpop’ side of things that has been surging both on SoundCloud and Tik-Tok for months and even introduces artists who are able to blend these aforementioned genre’s together in a collision of styles which has me very excited for the future of the genre. The project features a number of artists including BIGBABYGUCCI, Stunna Cold, Kcardie, Tony Shhnow, Texako, Destroy Lonely, 10kdunkin, K.Trill, BBKnight, BoofPaxkMooky, and Lil Xelly. …

“When I was like 18, I used to really care about what everybody thought about my music and it used to get to me. I just started to realize that when you do good, people will criticize you, and when you do bad, they still criticize you.” -Lil Yachty Photo Cred: Gunner Stahl If there’s one thing that the roller coaster of a year that was 2020 has showed us, is that time is flying by. It seems like just a couple of years ago we were introduced to Apple Music and transitioning to an all-digital era of music. Some of the favorite songs, albums and mixtapes that existed over the last half of a decade are aging faster than we can count to 10, and  we are even nearing the anniversary of some projects turning 10 this year. It sounds crazy to even say this out loud, but 2021 will be the 5 year anniversary of the amazingly iconic XXL Freshmen class of 2016. Regardless of what good or bad may have happened in peoples lives that year, we can all agree that 2016 was a very important year for music. It sparked the brand new generation of rap–a …

BEAR1BOSS might be from Atlanta, one of the biggest Rap music hubs in the entire country, but he’s not trying to play by the rules that many ATL artists seem to have set in place. In fact, it seems as if he wants to interrupt the music scene down there, breaking through barriers to prove that just because you might not fit the typical mold that people would expect of you based on your geographical location doesn’t mean you can’t still make unbelievably catchy and inventive music, as he does. Just a couple of months ago, BEAR dropped off his project America’s Sweetheart, an almost 70-minute-long, 22 song effort that was full of uncharacteristically incredible hits. Although most underground artists tend to release small mixtapes or EPs of 3 to 5 songs that barely last ten minutes, I give credit to BEAR for breaking the mold once again and gifting his extremely loyal fans with a plethora of absolutely groundbreaking new tracks. While I have to go back and revisit it again since it has been way too long since my last listen, there are definitely a few songs I’ve kept in my regular rotation since they released, one of …

In the midst of the pandemic that began early last year, it forced a lot of us to find other means of entertainment as we were all stuck inside the house on lockdown. One of the best things to come from this pandemic from an entertainment standpoint, would be the Head-to-Head music battle platform “Verzuz”–founded and created by Hip-Hop legends Timbaland and Swizz Beats. What once started as just a one-off Instagram Live battle between the two moguls to see who had the better production catalog has now turned into a worldwide phenomenon–bringing the group chat/barbershop conversation into fruition as to who is the better artist. Two legends take turns playing hits after hits and a winner is declared just shortly after the battle is over once Timbaland and Swizz Beatz go Live and talk it out. The platform has since then grown to produce live in-person battles–accompanied with live DJ’s, amazing stage settings, and commentary from both artists in between songs. Some of the battles we have seen come from this would be DMX vs. Snoop Dogg, Alicia Keys vs. John Legend, Rick Ross vs. 2 Chainz, Nelly vs. Ludacris, and even the controversial battle with Jeezy vs. Gucci …

I’ve mentioned it copiously before, but Lucki is one of the most prolific and storied emcees in the entire underground music scene not only in Chicago but in the whole country. While ignorant outsiders might look at his music as a half-spirited effort that contains little substance, true Rap fans recognize the emotional journey and struggles that consume Lucki within every single record he releases, and the monotone qualities of his voice just further emphasize the numbness he feels after constantly having to deal with his inner battles. Thankfully, to round out the end of last year, he ended a terrible 2020 on a high note with his extremely powerful EP The World is Lucki’s. Although this effort was only 3 songs long and barely lasted 6 minutes, every square inch of the EP was as Flawless as Lucki’s Twitter handle would suggest, bringing us back a few years to a more classic sound with a twist that was provided by a new and constantly growing Lucki. Out of the trio of records on the project, the middle song “Widebody” truly caught my attention, partially because one of my favorite producers ever, Brent Rambo produced it, but also partially because …

The seemingly limitless world of sounds, styles, and unfounded musicality that Daniel Lopatin has come to bask in over his now-decade long time as one of electronic and ambient music’s most defining figures is shrouded in pure acclaim and influence all the same. His status as quite possibly the most remarkable and ever-progressive force of instrumental music as a whole is cemented in stone, and perhaps it truly has been for even the longest time now.  Many may say the world didn’t even need such a pervasive force of a project like 2018’s Age Of to fully place this fact in the mind’s of the grander majority; those same people may even claim that we had no need for his outstanding scoring ventures on the dynamic tandem of Good Time and Uncut Gems. Up to those points in his career, he had done enough to put such an immense and profound mark on the grander electronic music world to adequately earn the right to those aforementioned claims without question.  But those projects still came out, and their sheer quality alone pushed his unprecedented status practically into the stratosphere. And unsurprisingly, even today he has yet to even shed the slightest …

Colorado-native and underground star Vwillz has been keeping his foot on the neck of 2020 since the year has started. This year alone, he had dropped a handful of mixtapes, EP’s, and tons of top-notch quality visuals to accompany the songs on his projects that deserve a visual piece alongside of it. Since discovering him, the amount of work that this artist has been putting into his craft has been mind-blowing to see, and it such an amazing trait to show this early on in his career. to approach each project and treat it better than the last is something that all artists should do, and it certainly shows here. Making his return to the platform, Vwillz is back with yet another offering of his next mixtape titled Lover Boy. Dir. @Matt_Primising While it may be no surprise as to what someone may infer this project is about, Vwillz does an amazing job at approaching each song as if it were its own feature film. Even while much of the subject matter remains the same this time around, he does a great job and peeling back another layer and providing a lot more introspection on this offering. Covering topics such as …