Playground magazine

A new batch of free mixtapes is here so that you can face the weekend in the best possible mood. As usual in this section, we try to put references with different trajectories in the selection, new cats who are on the rise and promising newcomers who still need some work and growth, but who have a style. Ten albums that are only a click away from you. And your conscience can rest easy.

This was buried underneath the avalanche of releases in April, but it is never too late to pick it back up: “Queens… Revisited” is a firm candidate for one of the top 20 mixtapes of 2012 so far. The good thing about it is how easily the Queens trio Children Of The Night integrates a variety of references and allusions to pop culture–they are obsessed with “Star Wars”, that’s one clue– into a discourse that is as hedonistic as it is bizarre, festive, but also strange and unclassifiable. They have personality and a lot of cheek. They draw on 90s boom bap, but passed through their own sound filter, sometimes influenced by nerd-rap, other times by psychedelic rap like Outkast, but always imaginative and fresh; the result is an exultant album that handles a variety of expressive angles with the same passion and vocation.

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Under normal circumstances, I couldn’t care less about the return of DMX. His musical proposal stopped being interesting to me a long time ago. But due to the Baltimore rapper’s personal downfall in recent years –problems with drugs, trials, prison stays, community service, participation in reality shows– the appearance of the EP “The Weigh In” arouses more curiosity and expectation than you might think. Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg or even Dr. Dre, who gave him one of his beats, all help him pull himself up by the bootstraps, and I have to admit that the first impression is better than I expected. He is the same old DMX, thrashed by his inner torment and the usual demons, but now his pain sounds more sincere and credible. And the soulfully-inspired, epic production style goes along with it.

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For those of us who have always had a special weakness for The Lox, even knowing their creative limitations, each new mixtape by one of its members is news. Even today, in 2012, when Styles P, Sheek Louch and Jadakiss are practically prehistoric names for the new generations, their releases still give you that little tingle that won’t let you just give them up for dead. In general terms, “The Consignment” is a very irregular mixtape, to full of insignificant featurings–Yung Joc, Fabolous, Ace Hood, Future or Waka Flocka have nothing at all on Jadakiss– and it is musically bland, without any punch, but moments like “Without You”, a big soulful hit, “Cuz We Paid” or “Street Knock” make it worth downloading.

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From the leftfield sector of current hip hop, Das Racist is by far one of the most instructive points of reference. One of the members, rapper Kool A.D., proves this once again in “51”, his recent mixtape. The main attraction of this street album is the fact that the MC went to Oakland to record it in the company of some up-and-coming names on the California scene. The magnificent result suggests a substantial, evident change from the sounds of Das Racist and it breathes new life into their discourse with a sound somewhere between nerd rap and laboratory rap, an imaginary meeting point between Madlib and El-P. Another of those mixtapes that could cost money and no one would have the right to complain.

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Every time it seems clearer that 2012 will be Maybach Music’s year, at least if they meet the release dates foreseen from now to December. One of the strong points will be the debut of Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill, which in theory should be out at the end of August. So the mixtape “Dreamchasers 2”, then, is like the final warm-up and lays the groundwork for it, and as such, he plays his cards close to the chest and only gives us a little hint of what is to come this summer. But it’s enough to get a little of an idea of what Rick Ross’ protégé may have to offer us. Is Meek Mill an MC destined to leave us with our jaws hanging open? It doesn’t look like it. He still looks a little limited to yours truly, anyway, repetitive and single-minded, but he doesn’t have a bad nose for beats and for coming up with a sound faithful to the Maybach emporium, as valid for the radio formula as it is for the streets.

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