Hump Day Bump Day: December 1, 2010

Lexicon – Almost There

Here’s a project from a fellow Tar Heel. Lexicon, a.k.a. Lex Jordan, a current junior at UNC, released his latest mixtape “Almost There” right before Thanksgiving break. The six-song EP is a prelude to his album dropping later this week. “Almost There” is a lyric-based tape that ventures from topics such as club-life to bedroom finagling, the norm for rap these days. The beats in “Sex Love Life” and “1 Night Only” don’t smack you in the face nor do they create white noise, instead they provide a backdrop for his flows and cater to his flows. The drums and beats that make up “Rainbow” are somewhat eclectic and try to do too much, but the song is the clear banger on the EP, his metaphors are spot on and John Brown switches it up nicely on the beat. He may be getting ahead of himself rapping about sellout shows and security, but only time will tell — the dude has potential. Lexicon has great skills when it comes to creating metaphors and telling stories, the two things that good songs do well.

Dope Lyrics: “Cause I’m a North cat, poor, black, soul-strapped, soul trap.” “Let’s step up like aerobics caused I’m focused on my motive”
Spin This: “Rainbow” ft. John Brown
Download Almost There and listen to more Lexicon releases here
Download Watching Me Closely here.

Lil B – Evil Red Flame

This spoken-word/hardly-rappin’ artist starts out by apologizing to Kanye West by crediting him a genius. What a plug. He previously threatened on Twitter to beat up West if they met in person and he didn’t collaborate with Lil B. If you have never heard of this cat, I’m surprised — he is the self-proclaimed “Based God”. If you deem yourself worthy enough to be Jesus’ successor you better have the walk, talk, magical powers, hair, and musical genius to back it up. Let’s get this straight: he has the talk down… and that’s it. On the “Evil Red Flame” mixtape Lil B draws up slum-like pictures of the ghetto, angelic goddesses he seduces and the herbs/medicines he is under the influence of when he’s rapping. I believe Lil B has put out more mixtapes in 2010 than most rappers have put out songs. This is another half-assed mixtape with an amateur photoshopped cover and little reason to keep. When you consider your mixtape part of ‘classic collector’s items,’ you’re whack and need to a wake-up call from reality or you’re Tupac and know you’ll die by the game. Some love his provocative philosophical rants, I’ll let you be the judge of this. Download it for a good laugh.

Download “Evil Red Flame” here.

Trump Gees – Watching Me Closely

For the big-name features that Trump Gees have enlisted on “Watching Me Closely,” he certainly doesn’t live up to the hype. Curren$y has put out two of the best rap albums in 2010, Gucci Mane is Gucci Mane, and Freeway is an established name in the rap game. Trump Gees really brings it when he throws down a verse, but doesn’t capitalize on the beats he should be. Who hasn’t done a freestyle over Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow?” The beat is so fresh and adrenaline-inducing, it’s hard to outshine, and nobody has been able to wrangle it except for Wiz. Basically this goes through the money, girls, and drug dealing that every rapper spits about. He is between the Game and T.I. in terms of his overall sound and beats, but he doesn’t seem to be able to establish a sound on this mixtape. A true shame with the producers and guests on this mixtape, this was his shot to break through the small-time rap game and he doesn’t seize it.

Dope Lyric: “I guess I’m feeling kind of generous. Took control of the game like Genesis. Got a lot of nemesis.”
Spin These: “Without You (Remix ft. Curren$y)” and “Flyy”