Hump Day Bump Day: 10/20

Aspektz & Kenny Powers – Miller High Life x HBO x True Thorobredz -7th Inning Stretch

If you’re a fan of the stuck-up baseball player Kenny Powers (from HBO’s Eastbound and Down) and fresh flowing rapping, this is the mixtape for you. Any mixtape that claims an actor as a subject is a bold move, but the monologues they incorporate into the songs are snotty and meld smoothly with the songs’ topics. Aspektz pistol whips these dope beats with above average rhymes in his impersonation of the washed up baseball star Powers.“7th Inning Stretch” is largely created from classic-rock samples, heavy on Led Zeppelin and light on seductive choruses. Luckily the producers don’t try to auto tune Powers’ ridiculous rants and leave them for intros and endings of songs, not interfering with the rapping. Aspektz obviously has some skills, judging from some of the big-name sponsors backing this mixtape. He delves into the normal subjects — drugs, women and money — but still leaves you wanting more after the six song mixtape.

Dope Lyric: “Dance moves got you sharper than my weaponry, told ya baby it’s the eggrolls not the ecstasy.”
Spin These: “More Than A Feeling” and “Coulda Been A Woman”
Download “7th Inning Stretch” here.

Kanye West – The Yeezy Effect

If you’ve been keeping up with anything and everything lately, you’d know that Kanye West has plastered himself all over the music and pop culture world. He has an album coming out in November (“My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”) and he’s set himself up to be at the top of the charts. Mr. West is releasing a song every Friday as a part of his G.O.O.D. Friday series. These epic songs feature up to five artists and never last less than four minutes long. Kanye has hung up his 808 and Heartbreak-style auto tuned singing and gotten back to his Late Registration manner of hard-hitting lyrical madness. He is working with some of the best rappers in the game right now (Jay-Z, Kid Cudi and Rick Ross), taking his game to new levels. This mixtape truly embodies this ascension to the top. The two CD, 34 song tape features remixes and unreleased songs from artists on his G.O.O.D. Music record label as well as some singles from Kanye’s upcoming album. This is more of a compilation of Kanye’s recent material than a thorough project but it’s dope material from a dope musician which can only culminate in a mixtape of double down dopeness.

Dope Lyric: “Put your hand to the constellations, the way you look should be a scene, you’re my sensation. I know I beat you to the congregation, we love Jesus, but she done learned a lot from Satan”
Spin These: “Runaway,” “Power Remix,” “Monster,” “All Talk,” “Fat Raps (Remix)” and “Good Friday”
Download “The Yeezy Effect” here.

Cyhi The Prynce – Royal Flush

Here is thorough project from a good music signee. Besides having a creative pseudonym, Prynce has an ahead-of-the-curve approach to the rap game. He’s a dynamic rapper who can take on any beat, evident on “Royal Flush” — “Sideways” and “Top of the World” have contrasting flows and Prynce kills both. The first half of the tape is dedicated to heavy beats and strong lyrical ruse while the second half takes more of a laid-back, almost R&B-like tone. The second half finds a strong foundation in chocolaty smooth choruses accompanied by sometimes firm and sometimes Milky Way-bar-smooth vocals, creating a bumpy ride that comes to a skittish halt. It’s a roller coaster that has an awesome initial drop but coasts along on the energy created from the opening oomph. Don’t get me wrong; Kanye’s protégée is going places with the skills he presents on this mixtape, but he he’s one heart short of a royal flush.

Dope Lyric: “I’m the rap Nat Turner with a black burner, plus I’m a stack earner.”
Spin These: “Sideways” and “Top of the World”
Download “Royal Flush” here.