1. Alex Wiley – Village Party
Alex Wiley is a young Chicago rapper who’s popped up on tracks with fellow Chicago phenoms Kembe X and Chance The Rapper. A lot of his early material, including his debut tape Club Wiley, was immature, irreverent and undeveloped. But Wiley still showed a crazy amount of potential. He’s made good on that potential and then some on Village Party. The project has that distinct Chicago vibe (sing-song flows, eclectic production influences, unique slang) but Wiley doesn’t just settle into that lane, he stretches the sound put forth by Chance, Vic, and Kembe into inventive shapes. (DOWNLOAD)
2. Amerigo Gazaway – Yasiin Gaye: The Return (Side Two)
Producer Amerigo Gazaway delivers the second part of his Yasiin Gaye experiment as promised. And the mash-up continues to be crazy-good. If you missed the first tape, the project is a combination of Mos Def and Marvin Gaye tracks. Gazaway somehow had the vision to know that these two artists would sound unbelievably good together. Like I said in my review of the first part of this project, it seems almost unfair to compare Marvin Gaye and Mos Def material to the other free projects in the column. But what am I supposed to do, this is just great music. (DOWNLOAD)
3. Slot-A – High Tide Beat Tape
Rappers may copy flows, but I’d argue that producers are more frequently offenders when it comes to creative theft. Browse through DatPiff right now and you’ll hear a ton of stuff that sounds exactly like DJ Mustard that definitely wasn’t touched by the man. So it’s really impressive when I hear a producer who sounds like no one else, and that’s what Slot-A delivers on the High Tide Beat Tape. This is the one of the best instrumental tapes I’ve heard all year. (DOWNLOAD)
