Young Dro – Day Two
Young Dro is officially back. On last month’s Grand Hustle’s G.D.O.D. group mixtape, he sounded way more fired-up than most of his team. But his lyrics are still one-dimensional and his repetitive brand of fight music got boring way before I could get through Day Two’s 18-tracks. (Download)
Problem – The Separation
DJ Mustard didn’t produce anything on this tape, but his trademark West Coast sounds are all over The Separation. Problem raps almost exclusively about drugs, chicks and money, and he sounds really bored doing it. With a bunch of similar-sounding beats and similar-sounding flows, Problem is on auto-pilot. (Download)
Asher Roth – The Green House Effect Vol. 2
This tape is okay, it’s low-key and some tracks are fun. But it’s way too long and most of the time Asher is just rapping nonsense. He got a lot of hate after “I Love College” and he’s a way better rapper than that track indicated, but on The Green House Effect Vol. 2 he just moved sideways from frat-rap to unfocused weed-rap. (Download)
Machine Gun Kelly – Black Flag
I’m not a big Machine Gun Kelly fan, but I have to hand it to him that the samples on this tape are top-notch. The Florence And The Machine flip on “Raise The Flag” is fantastic and I couldn’t believe that I was hearing a sped-up Aloe Blacc sample on “Pe$o”. (Download)
DJ Mustard – Ketchup
DJ Mustard is one of the most influential producers in the game right now. His beats are a catchy combination of Bay-Area hyphy, southern bounce and west-coast dance-rap. But Ketchup is over-long, hardly anything stands out, and after a while all of the songs start sounding the same. (Download)