Mixtape Review-Raekwon “Lost Jewelry”

Posted on February 14, 2013 by ari

Wow, a new official Raekwon mixtape? This one I HAD to hear. Of all of the artists who regularly drop mixtapes, Raekwon is not one of them. Coming from the background of Staten Island, NY and being one of the key members of influential hip-hop mega-group Wu-Tang Clan, Raekwon has always been known for his drug dealer rhymes, where you can see the sky and smell the coke cooking in the kitchen. His first album “Only Built For Cuban Linx” is in my all time rap classics, and so I was eager to hear this 2013 drop of all new material from Raekwon.

Suffice to say, I was not diappointed. This one starts off hard and never lets up. Opener “Prince Of Thieves” starts with a clip from HBO’s “The Wire” with the one lesbian cop putting the little girl to bed and saying “Good night hoppers, Good  night scammers, Good night hustlers…good night everyone”. I remembered this clip right away. Raekwon comes in and just murders the track with the good old Raekwon you know and love. The line that jumped out at me was “Chilling with my boo-boo, in France and Honolulu, between me and you, in this rap thing I’m a guru”. Whaaaatttt???

Also track 5, “For The Listeners”, has a real 80′s hip-hop feel but not old sounding. Rae goes in and just airs it out. Honestly every song on here is hard and well thought out, though these two remain my favorites. It’s always so good to see a classic MC still come with some material that makes the rookies check themselves. 5 stars. Click here for hip hop mixtapes …..

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Mixtape Review-Juelz Santana “God Will’n”

Posted on February 13, 2013 by ari

One artist who we have not heard from in some time is my man Juelz Santana. Once one of the main Dipset captains under Cam’ron, Juelz has remained mostly quiet the past couple years as Jim Jones as taken the spotlight with his part on VH-1′s “Love & Hip-Hop” and the eventual spin-off “Chrissy & Mr. Jones”. I always think back to the super old Dipset mixtapes, when Juelz was new to the game, and hearing that old “Juelz Dip, Dip..Santana set, set” for the first time and knowing he was a beast. I was very excited to see that this mixtape was dropping and I listened to it the day it dropped. It stayed in steady rotation for weeks.

On to the mixtape. This one is GREAT. The wait was worth it. From opener “Sho Nuff”, where Juelz reminds you just who he is, to the insane “Bad Guy”, complete with Tony Montana intro and Jadakiss guesting, this is NY at it’s absolute finest. New single “Soft” with Rick Ross and Meek Mill is popping up everywhere, and is just so hard. I especially love the song “My Will”, where Juelz talks about if he were to die, who to give his stuff to. The whole mixtape is fluid and strong, and it is apparent that Juelz Santana really took his time on this one. It really does play like an album. 5 stars. Click here for hip hop mixtapes….

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“BitCandy’s Top 5 Artists For 2013″

Posted on January 11, 2013 by ari

Here is a guest blog from our friends over at BitCandy:

We here at BitCandy have spent insane hours working around the clock listening to music, going through submissions, connecting with artists, in search of the latest, great indie bands .Why? Do I need to state the obvious? Because there’s pretty amazing music out there! And since we know (hope) you have great taste in music, we want to share with you five great artists that leave posers looking like posers.

And sure some of these might have under 5,000 Facebook likes but that’s the way we like it.

Kids Without Instruments

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The electric-pop duo from Cali checks off many items from our indie criteria list. We love originality and fearlessness. At such a young tender age, these self proclaimed socially awkward kids are leaps and bounds ahead of their poser peers.  This is an advance preview of their new song “Nausea Nostalgia.”

 

MS MR

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Straight out of Brooklyn, the music made by MS MR is not your ordinary pop. The dark emotional DIYers hit the nail on the head with the melodramatic epileptic tumbler inspired “Hurricane” video. They’ve been hot on the blogosphere and are well on their way to pushing Lana Del Rey off of her pedestal.

 

Big Black Delta – IFUCKINGLOVEU

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Do you recall a little British band called Muse? Now wait, wait, I’m not saying that this L.A. group is  the next big rock sound…or am I? Their music is huge, dirty, manic, and fast. We’re fuking surprised they haven’t gone big yet. Just goes to show that there are far too many people out there brainwashed by the fake posh aesthetic shit. You want real talent, check out BBD and prepare yourself for a heart attack.

 

No Ceremony/// – FEELSOLOW

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We’re not all about goth and gloomy pop, but we can’t help to pick up on artists that make pain sound so good. Can you blame us for raving about the knob-twiddling trio from Manchester? We do not know much about them personally, but that’s okay, we’re not supposed to. Perhaps the mystery makes them even more intriguing. We have  a very strong sense that the mysterious threesome  will continue to grace our ears with their unrestricting polarized sound.

 

A.CHAL – Roses On Your Silhouette

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Some people may call this video mind-blowing. If mind-blowing means eye opening then yes, I am in complete agreement with using that word to describe A. Chal’s artistic flare. His ability to blend a fusion of sounds and deliver something that is as equally smart as it is evil is so deliciously tempting. His darkness may be what makes his music so great. It makes me feel as if I’ve bitten the forbidden apple and I like it.

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So in essence, the commonality that most stands out from the above fabfuckintastic artists is that they all share the same passion for creating music. They don’t just love music, they are in love with music. When you’re in love with something, it’s easy to communicate your emotions to your listeners through your sound or any form of artistry.

Embrace the goods, yo! And keep on supporting great indie bands. And as always be kind and share us with your friends. They deserve to know about good music too.

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“The Top 10 Mixtapes Of 2012″

Posted on January 9, 2013 by ari

The top ten mixtapes of 2012. These are in no particular order. Here we go:

1. Rick Ross-”Rich Forever”. This one was the victory lap. It was the perfect prequel to his instant classic, “God Forgives, I Don’t” and showed the world just how on top of the hip-hop game Ricky Rozay actually is. Maybach Music in the building.

2. Meek Mill- “Dreamchasers 2″. I would say hands-down that this was undoubtedly the best mixtape of 2012. Raw, real, inspired, it shows Meek at his hungriest and most energetic. I still get chills when I hear it. If you don’t have this one, you’re slipping.

3. Wiz Khalifa- “Taylor Allderdice”. This one added to the Pittsburgh Kid’s prowess and showed that even his success can’t stop his mixtape finesse. His songwriting skills continue to improve, and he shines with the best of em.

4. DJ Drama Slaughterhouse-”On The House”. This Drama-assisted mixtape showed Slaughterhouse doing just what they do best-Murder instrumentals. The face of Shady Records 2.0 just simply kills it here, and reminds you what real hip-hop is supposed to sound like.

5. Lil Wayne & DJ Drama- “Dedication 4″. This long-awaited mixtape from the 2 heavyweights had everyone buzzing, from the fans to the blogs to even MTV. Lil Wayne went in on all of the current radio hits’ beats and showed just why he earned the nickname “The Mixtape Weezy”. Solid work.

6. DJ Drama & Jadakiss- “Consignment”. Wow, an official Jadakiss mixtape with DJ Drama. What can I say? Fire, front to back. Jadakiss is easily in the top 5 rappers alive, and with Mr. Thanksgiving to back him up it’s game over.

7. Future & DJ Scream- “Astronaut Status”. This was the one that really made Future a star, and showed his ability to stand out on his own among all of the other hip-hop freshman. A piece of history for sure.

8. Gucci Mane- “Trap God”. This official Gucci Mane shows Mr. So Icy at the top of his game, with the usual topics of money and jewelry in full force, plus guest spots from Meek Mill, Waka Flocka, T-Pain, Rick Ross and newcomer Young Scooter. Quality street music.

9. French Montana- “Mac & Cheese 3″. The King of NY French Montana brought his long-awaited Mac & Cheese 3 mixtape just in time for the holidays, and just killed it. This is that grimy, NYC Timberland hoody music, the stuff that’s been missing these past few years. This one makes his hype obvious.

10. Young Jeezy & DJ Drama- “It’s Tha World”. This one simply blew me away. This is that old Jeezy, that Trap Or Die, Streetz Iz Watchen Jeezy, that Mr 17.5 Jeezy, that Snowman sh*t. So hard. “RIP” with 2 Chainz is worth the price of admission alone, and “All The Same” with E-40 is street rap at it’s purest.

You can purchase all of these mixtapes at www.Arismixtapes.com And be sure to check out our blog weekly for reviews on the newest and hottest mixtapes!

 

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Mixtape Reviews-Omarion “Care Package”

Posted on December 24, 2012 by ari

Omarion is one artist who has really come into his own lately. With the help of his MMG labelmates (specifically Rick Ross) Omarion has started to really create solid songs with some of the best R&B music I have heard in some time. As Omarion prepares his debut album for the Maybach Music Group label, he dropped this “Care Package” mixtape to give the fans a sampler.

I heard the song “MIA” with Wale on the “Self Made 2″ compilation that MMG put out earlier in 2012, and I was impressed. This mixtape is along those lines, yet each songs sounds different than the one before, with a variety of topics and focal points on each seperate track. Though it is pretty short compared to most mixtapes at only 9 tracks, it is 9 solid well produced tracks. Besides “MIA”, the song “Arch It Up” has an excellent beat and Omarion spits some sensual verses alongside guest Trae the Truth. I actually like this one more than MIA. “Admire” with Problem and Tank is a stripper song, and “Private Dancer” reminds me of 90′s R&B when groups like 112 and Jagged Edge were big. Give this one a chance, it makes me excited to hear the upcoming album. I miss music like this.

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