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SUPACALI-
GANGSTAWITIT
J. Holiday:
Chocolate
City Mixtape Vol. 1
NWA:
Straight Outta
Compton (20th Y.A.)
Nas:
Hip-Hop
Is Dead
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"R&B just died this morning..."
Let's look at the negatives first, and then get to the positives, 'cause This Mixtape Killed It (in a positive way)! Well first of all, after watching the "Bed" music vid, I thought, who is this scumbag? Case-in-point: look at the dude's unruly tattoos on his neck, his loose doo-rag, and that unshaven facial hair. To quote Crunk & Disorderly, his scum-game is rivalling Jim Jones's. And more importantly, I have never really enjoyed "Bed", and still don't. I just don't get how it's good!
The mixtape has fourteen tracks. It's hosted by DJ Flex, "the voice of D.C." It has a touch of different flavors sprinkled in it: an old r&b vibe, a hot sixteen in "R&B is Dead," and a track that reminisces about old songs. I have to give it up to J. for the track "Break Up 2 Make Up" -- he flipped R. Kelly's vocals from "When a Woman's Fed Up" and made this song perfect. It's about a couple arguing, making up, and then finally -- getting it on. "Hustle Harder" fits perfectly in today's atmosphere of everyone-and-their-mamas are hustlers [see TI, Jay, Cassidy, Mack 10, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, Jimmy Boi, Paul Wall]. DJ Flex claims at the song's intro that this is his song. J. Holiday glides through the song with overall ease, and after a few listens, it's now my song. "My Perogative" is a song in which J. Holiday flips Prince's song; the end result is believable and dope. After "Bed" comes "Hydro". This is my favorite song on the mixtape. The concept of the song is an ode to, well... hydro:
Give me the hydro to free my soul / I wanna get lost in your purple smoke...
"Mister Mister" is a good song. It profiles the struggles that black people go through. "Make It Rain" is a dope song. "Mary Jane" is my second favorite song on the mixtape; the concept is cool. I bet the song "R&B Is Dead" came straight out of the left field for most people, as it did for me. Yes, J. Holiday flips the now classic? Nas track; and !yes! he does the original song justice; And !yes! he raps? a hot sixteen in this song? huh? yeah, I wouldn't have thought either... Listen for yourself! Oh yeah, he does it better than most of you rappers. I know most of you people have proclaimed that some producers-turned-rappers rap better than most rappers, but this !singer! raps better than !a lot! of rappers out there today. "When We're Dancing" is a song in which J. flips Omarion's track, "Entourage". I ain't really feelin' that song; the beat is "too catchy" and takes over the song. "Music's Changed" has that same vibe as Leela James's "Music's". J. Holiday shows he is a genius on this song: he reminisces the greats in Black music by incorporating lines from songs by James Brown ("It's a Man's Worrrld"), Marvin Gaye ("Make me wanna holla"), Aaliyah (Try Again-"Dust Yourself off & try again..."), and he shouts out Left Eye, Luther Vandross, Rick James, among others. I almost dropped a tear when J. started singing lines from Biggie's verse from Mo' Money Mo' Problems: "B-I-G-P-O-P-P-A", and 2Pac's "Brenda's Got a Baby", back-to-back.
To conclude this piece, J. Holiday has nothing special about him that makes him truly stand out. He probably won't be going on world tours like Usher next year. What he does have in this mixtape is the right amount of ingenius concepts: Hydro, Music's Changed, R&B is Dead mixed with proper renditions, (My Perogative, Break Up 2 Make Up, R&B is Dead, again) and hot original songs: "Hustle Harder". I was genuinely surprised at the level of expertise shown musically by J. Holiday on this mixtape. This CD was definitely a right move for Holiday. At this rate, he may prove me wrong about him.
4.5 'Po Man's Boogy's' out of 5
Reviewed by Yuze P. Yuan
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