MC Nadim – I Miss Hip-Hop Vol. 2 (Revenge of the Backpacker)

The Gems:

This is a step in the right direction for both hip-hop and Nadim
This tape is A LOT better than Volume 1
Great features (the album isn’t flooded with other artists)
This is real Canadian Hip-Hop

Diamonds In The Rough:

Most of the album was mix and mastered by Mason Payne
Nadim plans on doing more visuals for the mixtape in the near future
This tape has helped create a brand new buzz in Sauga hip-hop
Fairly long for a Hip-Hop mixtape these days

Bricks:

To many dub tracks
I thought Drake killed putting a DJ on a mixtape?
Lacks wow factor

Summary:

Incase your living under a rock, I Miss Hip-Hop Vol. 2 is MC Nadims latest offering to the Canadian Hip-Hop scene. As you may have already guessed (or heard), the make up of this CD consists of hardcore beats with clever and witty lyrics. Unfortunately for the most part… that’s all it is. Although Nadim has managed to drastically improve both his buzz and talent since Vol. 1 he still failed to move outside of his comfort zone. But with that being said, this CD does bring justice to this watered down hip-hop game and is better than most of the bubble gum rap your local radio station offers your ears. So do us all a favor, turn that radio off and pop Vol. 2 in and enjoy the sounds of genuine hip-hop for a change. As for a final verdict, I don’t think this CD will bring Hip-Hop back but it is defiantly a step in the right direction. If you’re reading this Nadim, remember… It isn’t easy being a backpacker, the audience is tough and the competition is tougher.

The Big Mouths:

3 Big Mouths out of 5, SO close to 3.5! I think some songs lacked structure; there were to many 2 min freestyles. I also feel there are a few records that held back the overall presentation of the tape. But other than that I was pleasantly surprised with it.

Top Tracks:

The Truth (Prod. By Redroom Records)
Buckwild (Feat. Young Stitch & Hazzy)
Got My Backpack
End Of Discussion (Feat. Mason Payne)
Dip It (Feat Mezziah) (Prod. By Nix Da Beat Alien)

Skips:

Go For The Gusto (Feat. Rony Montana & Aquarius)(Prod. By Rony Montana)
Mind Control
No Hook
The Problem

Share on Facebook

JD Era – Th1rt3en (2010)

The Gems:

Finally a new JD Era tape, a lot of us have been waiting on this for a while
This tape has all original production (One of them being Don Cannon)
The closest thing to an Era “album” we’ve ever seen.
The beats on this tape are crazy
Era is at his best so far in 2010

Diamonds In The Rough:

The tape is mixed and mastered by Pro Logic
Tape was originally supposed to come out Nov. 13^th 2009 but was pushed back for final touches
Rock & Roll (Featuring Drake) is rumoured to be an unreleased song from 2007

Bricks:

Tape was pushed back several times
This tape would flow better front to back without a DJ
More commercially geared than expected

Summary:

JD Era is back with his Th1rt3en mixtape, and I must say it is one of the better Canadian tapes to come out in a while. With production from Beat Merchant and Boi 1da, and features from Drake and Saukrates, this tape features some of Canada’s best. The tape mixes Eras raw style with more commercially geared beats for the majority of the tape. This isn’t exactly what I expected but at the same time, I am not disappointed. Th1rt3en proves that Era definitely has the potential to blow, but it still remains to be seen whether he actually will.

The Big Mouths:

I have pros and cons with this tape. Having a good tape isn’t good enough these days; you have to have a great tape. This tape falls between good and great, it wasn’t quite where most fans wanted it to be (Drake set such a high standard with his last tape). But with that being said, JD Era is not Drake and for a mixtape done by 95% Canadian artists (No free Lil Wayne verses) it is pretty damn close to as good as it gets. Good job BMG, 4.5 stars.

Top Tracks:

Era Season
Villains Lair
Fame & Fortune

Skips:

You Know This
Rock & Roll

Download Th1rt3en Here

Share on Facebook

Stars:

Gems:

Every Girl In The World
Bedrock (Ft. Lloyld)
Play In My Band
Fuck Da Bulls (Ft. Birdman)

Skips:

Pass The Dutch (Ft. Shawt Dawg) & Steady Mobbin’ (Ft. Gucci Mane)\

Production:

Pretty typical for a projects Wayne’s on.

Equality:

You don’t hear enough samples from each of the artists which I wanted so that makes the rating lower. There is more drake then the rest of young money

Share on Facebook

D-Pryde – No… Rly Now (2009)

The Gems:
Pryde has put the comedy aside to give us some real hip-hop
90% of the mixtape is original production
Great features (the album isn’t flooded with other artists)
This mixtape has different genres of hip-hop within it

Diamonds In The Rough:
Pryde still has a lot more records with Boi 1da
He recorded over 40 songs for this tape
Interview coming soon!

Bricks:
It told me like 3 days to understand the title of the tape
A good mixtape could of bin a great mixtape with a few more tracks cut
Wasn’t a fan of the singing features (could have had more august! Or andreena mills, etc.)

Summary:
It’s a good day for Canadian hip-hop! Pryde is taking rap seriously! No… really now, he is… Pun bitches. Moving on, this mixtape mixes hardcore hip-hop with feel good music to make a well crafted mixtape. Some hip-hop heads may pick this album up and feel they were right about Pryde and that he isn’t that hot. But in reality you got to take into consideration that he probably has more female fans than male, and in that sense the tape caters to his fan base. Although the tape did fall lower than my expectations (most albums do) I still was not in anyway upset with the final product of no… rly now. From the intro to the smash remix of Fed Up (featuring every good young rapper) Pryde rarely misses a beat. Final verdict… This is a great tape from an even better artist.

The Big Mouths:
Naturally we rated this tape on the mixtape scale rather than the album scale. This tape is better than a lot of mixtapes we got this year but it was still no So Far Gone. 4 out of 5 Big Mouths was our final decision. Need I really say more?

Top Tracks:
Just Like Me, Rly Mean It, D in D-Pryde, There You Go, Fed Up Remix

Skips:
Out Here, Story 2 tell, On that

Buy it or Download it:
It’s free… so you might as well download it!

Share on Facebook

The Stars

Gems:

Some underground mixed with modern Hip-Hop.

E.A.S.T.S.I.D.E U.P are dope!

DJ Mixed It Well (Flows In Between Tracks)

Bricks:

Some tracks were slightly OFF BEAT! and that is definitely not good!

Top Tracks:

Criminal Mind, Conscious Nightmares, Finish Em’

Skips:

I Feel Like Dying Drop, Blue Magic Drop, Toast, Leave ‘Em Alone (ft. Methadist), Go, Roc Boys Drop

Buy it OR download it?

You Can Buy For The Collection Or Download

Hard copies available @ the following locations

The Jumpoff – 26 Dundas street East
Moog Audio – 442 Queen Street West
Soundscapes 572 College Street
Mixtape Mania – 1824 St Clair Ave W
Rockwell – 100 Bond Street (younge/dundas)
Play De Record – 357A Yonge St.
Island Rhythms- Warden & Eglinton Flea market
Jumpoff Dixie mall
Digi media Hurontario & Dundas
Jumpoff: 26 Dundas St. East
3 Kings: 3034 Palstan Rd. Unit N7
R & R Audio/Video: Mississauga Flea Market 3092 Mavis Rd

Download

Share on Facebook

Ozz – Toronto’s Lost Package (2009)

Gems:
The album reps Toronto proper
Great lyrics
Different flows throughout the mixtape
You can find anything from street records to club records on this mixtape

Diamonds In The Rough:
Ozz has already sold over 400 mixtapes on his own
Artwork done by  Team Canada Mixtapes
Has a 2008 throw back record on it

Bricks:
Way 2 much Drake on this
To many dub tracks
The mixtape could use more flow from track too track

Summary:
I declare DODD (Death Of Drake Dubs)! This is no shots at Ozz (his dubs were at least done well) but it seems ever Toronto MC wants to do Drake dubs these days and after this tape, it’s over. Moving on, Toronto’s Lost Package is a fantastic mixtape that reaches many different wings of hip-hop. Ozz is very different from other Toronto artists so the listen was very refreshing. I think with some original production and some star studded features this man could be one of the next big Canadian rappers. He’s got everything going for him right now and this was a great warm up mixtape. This mixtape isn’t as good as I think it could of bin BUT it does keep you interested in the artist. People who here this mixtape will be looking out for more Ozz, trust me. So Ozz, great work on this project and we REALLY look forward to what you can show us next time around.

The Stars:
In all honestly this record is right between a 3.5 and a 4 (on the mixtape scale) and if we had a 3.75 rating this tape would for sure receive it. It has too many rewinds and re-playable track’s to be a 3.5 but it’s also a few bangers away from a 4. SO the stars may say 3.5 but in my mind this is the best 3.5 tape we have seen, good work Ozz.

Top Tracks:
T-Dot Minute
Ozz Meets Drake
Where Am I?
A Weekly Replay

Skips:
Intro
She Got Swagg
Why So Serious?

Buy it OR download it?
Well… as of October 1^st we will have the tape on Big Mouths for download. So anytime before that buy it, but after that come to the site and download it. Do you agree with the review after listening?

Share on Facebook

Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3 (2009)

The Gems:
Jay-Z is back!
D.O.A
Kanye West & No I.D. held down most beats
Runs like an album
Artistic, creative

Diamonds In The Rough:
Jay-Z’s 1^st full synth album
Very few samples
J. Cole & Drake got next, they both on the album
Alicia Keys feature is crazy
The Jeezy song would have a bigger impact on a Jeezy album

Bricks:
Timbaland tracks
Production doesn’t mix with Jay’s laid back style
More skip material than previous Jay albums
Very few ipod worth tracks

Summary:
The Blueprint 3… we’ve been waiting on this album for longer than a year. Finally it arrives and many seem to think this album is a miss rather than a hit. With the expectations people have for Jay-Z, and this album it was almost impossible to make a good enough album to please the fans. The Blueprint 3 will please some but it will also leave others confused and disappointed. We thought Jay-Z stood for 90′s hip-hop? Why is he rapping on synth beats? These are some questions that may be left unanswered in his legacy. But all we can think is evolution. Remember when Kanye West released Graduation? It was the same story. Why is Kanye’s album full of synth is beats!? 3 months later every teen in the world is singing “flashing… lights, lights”. Will The Blueprint 3 have the same effect? Who knows but this album will defiantly attract a younger audience then say American Gangster. This in the long run, was probably the goal of the album. If you look at it like that how can the album REALLY be a miss?

The Big Mouths:

I have bin walking around my condo for the last 3 days juggling possibilities for the album. 3 out of 5, 4 out of 5, Or right down the middle. I ended up choosing 4 out of 5 Big Mouths as my final score. The reason why I choose 4 is because of different perspectives. This Jay album might not be for his die heart fans or his older audience, but what the album does do is create a newer and younger audience. This in turn helps lengthen the Jay-Z legacy. When the number of sales come in on Sept. 11^th will see if I was right or wrong.

Top Tracks:
DOA, Empire State Of Mind (Feat. Alicia Keys), A Star Is Born (Feat. J. Cole), Already Home (Feat. Kid Cudi),  Forever Young (Feat. Mr. Hudson).

Skips:
Thank You, On To the Next (track) (Feat. Swizz Beatz), Venus VS Mars, Reminder, many others could of bin skips as well.

Buy It Or Download It?

This could go both ways, for pissed of Jay-Z fans this one will probably be a download. For people like me who want it for my collection either way it’s a buy. So you decided people but I say Buy it!

Share on Facebook

The Gems:

Diamonds In The Rough:
Recorded a chunk of the album at DJ Premiers studio
The producers brought their best work (for the most part)
One of the most lyrical groups in Hip-Hop right now.

Bricks:
Some tracks that got cut were better than tracks on the final cut (Woodstock > Cuckoo)
Topics are repetitive
Stupid Skits
Cuckoo is whack I don’t care you say

Summary:
The Slaughterhouse machine has finally arrived! Mixed feelings on this album, I mean yeah it’s real hip-hop and it’s good hip-hop to BUT something doesn’t sit right with me. Their was to many songs with no concept and just straight 4 niggaz spitting, kind of reminded me of high schoolers who just want to rap so they go verse back, 2 back, 2 back. I mean, Wu Tang has more members than Slaughterhouse and they manage to make deep songs, but then again The WU is a legendary group. The good thing about this album is there are NO commercial tracks on it and that’s really hard to find in hip-hop these days. The album was everything I thought it would be, lyrics, hard beats, and real. Can’t really go wrong with an album like this at the end of the day, a good album for the whip!

The Big Mouths:

Hey! We got our own “stars” now, cool! Anyways this album is hard for me to rate I don’t want to discredit the hard work of these 4 MC’s but I also don’t want to over rate them. So I decided a 4 out of 5 Big Mouths would be fair. These guys gave it their all and they are helping real hip-hop stay alive, good job guys.

Top Tracks:
Cut you loose is a BANGER! (Prod. By Mr. Porter)
Not Tonight (Prod. By Streetrunners)
Lyrical Murderers (Prod. By Therealfocus)

Skips:
All the skits & Cuckoo

Buy it or Download it:
Clearly we downloaded since the album isn’t out yet but on 8/11 I’m hitting the store and picking this one up for the collection and the whip. Buy it!

Share on Facebook

Brandon Brown – I Made That (2009)

The Gems:
Very well produced
Sounds like an album
Creative and different
Different types of music  make up the album rather than one
Good Concepts

Diamonds In The Rough:
True Canadian Talent
Sounds Kid Cudi influenced

Bricks:
Some of the sounds and melodies are really repetitive
Not enough soul!

Summary:
I Made That, is the 1^st full length album from Brandon Brown and it is quiet the mix of music. When I heard that he also produced all the tracks on this CD I was even more impressed. The quality is great, the songs are great, and you can listen to this one front to back over and over. I think the album would be more appealing to a female audience but there is defiantly some good records for the fellas on this CD. BB’s sound is a mix of R&B, and Hip-Hop and I don’t mean like Ja Rule. GOOD R&B, and cleave Hip-Hop make up a heavy portion of this album. If I could change one thing about the album I would of asked for a few more lyrical tracks rather than melody influenced. But other than that I think this album is genius.

The Stars:

This one came easy to me because of how impressed I was with the album. 4 of out 5 stars, and yes that is on the album scale, you guys NEED to hear this album if you haven’t heard it yet. It is a very fun and entertaining listen.

Top Tracks:
Intro (Starts Here)
More Than A Crush
Prom Night
Mrs. Me (Feat. D-Pryde)
Hate

Skips:
Interlude
Gnarly

Buy it or Download it:
Well… It’s better than Melanie Fiona’s album… Better than Eminem’s album…. So you best BUY this one! Matter of fact you can cop it on Itunes

Share on Facebook

The Gems:

Psycho Freestyle

Hardships

Diamonds In The Rough:

Heavy Barz is cool freestyle

Bricks:

Definitely feels like a mixtape.  Could use some better production

Summary:

Tiggz Barack Uh da Dot Vol 2 is definitely Tiggz best work to date.   His previous mix tapes were hated on severely Check it out !! http://www.datpiff.com/FarqDesigns_TiGGz_Barack_Uh_Da_Dot_The_Mixtape.m44189.html

We talked to Tiggz and he said ” i worked and took my time with this mixtape and the next one i’m going to work harder and take my time even more ” TIGGZ.  Tiggz is a Promo Machine and his latest mixtape has reach over 400 downloads and counting. Pretty good for a underground emcee.  What makes me dislike like record is that there is too many frigin’ freestyles (I’m guessing there written).  In the Times up “freestyle” he calls out Broken Exit( i think there from orangeville) BEEF BEEF !.  Most of Tiggz Rhymes are  cool, he is getting better with every mixtape…

Top Tracks:
Get Em Ft. Marsonist

Big Dreams Ft. William Munny

Skips:

Dr. Carter Freestyle

State of Violence

Hottest in the Hood Freestyle

Download It ????

Heck ya It’s Canadian Content…. Dark Supports that ish!!  Mind you, you probably would only listen to it once

DOWNLOAD TIGGZ Barack uh da dot Vol 2-  Courtesy of our boys at DatPiff.com

http://www.datpiff.com/pop-mixtape-download.php?id=m5bb9927

MORE TIGGZ MATERIAL

THE BIG VID

Share on Facebook