This past Monday marked the 12th anniversary of Christopher Wallace’s passing. Like most honorable cats out there, Biggie Smalls had a profound impact on my life as a fan of music. He has also had an impact on how I look at music as a whole. Some say with only two albums, you can’t be mentioned among the greatest of a specific genre. I say, point out an artist who has had two albums with as much impact as Notorious B.I.G.
This week, Tale of the Tape starts with Cooking Soul & DJ Drama who give us The Notorious B.I.G. Tribute. Young Money artist Tyga is Outraged & Underage. Nu Jersey Devil shows us the Art of the Devil. Emilio Rojas plans to be Recession Proof. Nino Bless is determined to be The Latin Marksman. Tale of the Tape is unbelievable.
Cooking Soul & DJ Drama
The Notorious B.I.G. Tribute
Heavy Rotation
Backpacker or gat popper, it doesn’t matter; we all have our favorite Biggie Smalls track. Cooking Soul & DJ Drama have gotten together with a hodgepodge of artists to salute the king of NY in The Notorious B.I.G. Tribute. With artist ranging from Skyzoo (“Big Poppa”), LA the Darkman (“I Love The Dough”), and Jean Grae (“Hypnotize”), there are a lot of different looks coming on this disc. All the different looks only prove of one thing, “We’ll always love Big Poppa.”
Tyga
Outraged & Underage
One & Done
Tyga is one of the featured artists in Lil Wayne’s Young Money click. To most people, the majority of people who are in Young Money are nothing more than artists who fill 16’s between Lil Wayne verses on mixtapes. Tyga isn’t known by just that, he has the boost of being the cousin of Travis McCoy. Other than that, he isn’t known to drop a classic verse. He tries his hardest in Outraged & Underage to break away from the pack. He even gets with boss Lil Wayne (“Breaktime”). In the end, even with the marked improvement (“Stampede”), this is pretty boring stuff. The good news is he is still young, so he still has time.
Nu Jersey Devil
Art of the Devil
One & Done
Jumping from behind the board to the front of the mic usually is a sink or swim proposition. Of course for every DJ Quik & Kanye West, there are another 5 producers who really show no real potential for greatness. Nu Jersey Devil is part of the latter class. The Art Of The Devil mixtape is his first collection of titles for listeners. There are tracks where he shows the ability to make some interesting songs (“Different Girl”), but nothing is awe inspiring. The Art Of The Devil won’t stick to your rotation.
Emilio Rojas
Recession Proof
Peep It
Times are hard right now for all of us. Everything seems to be going down but gas prices. In this time span, various artists have come out with their own ways of trying to reach the masses. Emilio Rojas has taking that route, saying his material is so hot, that it’s Recession Proof. While there are some dope songs on here (“Way She Moves”) and the kid is gifted with the word play (“On the Ave”), this disc isn’t just what the doctor ordered (“Just One Night”) to raise the Hip-Hop index to Golden Age levels. Even so, take a listen, because it does raise Emilio Rojas’ stock.
Nino Bless
Latin Marksman (The Hit Files Vol. 1)
Peep It
There are many emcees, both young and old, which are spending their time going in circles talking instead of working until they reach the masses. Nino Bless is not one of those emcees. Being 1/5th of the most lyrical underground super-group Slaughterhouse should mean that Nino Bless can spit. He proves he can do it on his own with Latin Marksman. He shows some dexterity in his styles with a few good tracks (“Need Answers”), a couple of duos (“Lift Em Up”), and of course the Slaughterhouse self titled track that gets your head bobbing. Of course, this is a bit short, and it isn’t perfect, but this should get a bit of burn.
TALE OF THE TAPE: