While I celebrate Trap Or Die, I can't help but wonder how all the artists I suspect grew up on the mixtape series would flourish in the original arena, the same battlefield that made Jeezy, T.I., and Wayne mixtape legends. The problem with nostalgia, it leaves you craving a past feeling in the present tense. The recent Neighbourhood project was a nice and unexpected footnote, but it's just that, a footnote.
Childish Gambino’s STN MTN felt authentic, Drama made various appearances, Bino re-created "U Don’t Have to Call," rapped over "Patna Dem" and "Nextel Chirp," but sadly it just wasn’t a strong enough project. Artistic recess! Drama wasn’t just some background dancer, his role is as a collaborator is pivotal, he's an added feature more than a mixtape host. Where’s the shout outs? Where’s the ad-libs? Where’s the freestyles? Where’s the rewinds? Gangsta Grillz was a platform for an artist to break the rules, unleashed and be unfiltered. Drama walks in for the intro, leaves to get cigarettes, and practically never returns. I thoroughly enjoyed Kevin Gate’s Luca Brasi 2 - great songs, good rapping, but doesn’t have a single quality that would deem it a “Gangsta Grillz Special Edition.” Rapsody’s She Got Game is a tremendous album - incredible lyricism, major features, but doesn’t live up to “Presented by DJ Drama” on the cover. Maybe it was after the Great Mixtape Raid of 2007’ or Don Cannon’s departure from AMG in 08, but the familiar feeling that the mixtape staple used to give, has slowly faded.
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Before street albums became a common coining for free releases, their mixtapes represented that term. There was a quality the brand represented, a familiar formula that brought out the beast in every rapper involved. The best mixtapes of my generation felt like they were all hosted by Gangsta Grillz, with their every release presses would be stopped, brakes would be pumped, it was without question a must-have. I wouldn’t know of Asher Roth if it wasn’t for the Greenhouse Effect Vol 1, No Competition 2 reinvigorated my belief in Fabulous' ability to spit, and even though I was years late, Little Brother’s Separate But Equal is a 2006 diamond.
From the comedic “Models In The Hood,” to Skateboard P grinding across "Today Was A Good Day" and "Liquid Swords," there’s imagery painted that could only come from Pharell’s colorful world. Even Pharrell embraced his inner-rapper before In My Mind, his underrated Gangsta Grill is one of my personal favorites. From the phone call skits with Scarface and Hump Of SuckaFree to classic diss songs like " 99 Problemz (But Lil Flip Aint One)" and " Jackin’ For Beats," the proclaimed King Of The South defended his throne and demolished a leprechaun’s kingdom. T.I’s entire Down With The King Gangsta Grillz was an assassination of Lil Flip’s career. There’s an innumerable amount of classic mixtapes that are simply unforgettable. There were no rules, a freedom to completely get silly without repercussions. If albums were the NBA, mixtapes were And 1.
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