Joell Ortiz & Novel – “Defying The Predictable” (Mixtape Review)

9 02 2010

Dopeness. Nothing else needs to be said.

K1ng Eljay - I love following people with personality on Twitter. I’ve been excited about Joell Ortiz ever since he dropped “The Bodega Chronicles.” I couldn’t understand how come he didn’t have a deal then, then he got one and the more I researched, the more everything began to make sense, and he became a REAL person to me.

The same thing happened for Novel. He’s one of the few people that actually interact with their fans on Twitter. I said something on Twitter that he and Joell Ortiz together reminds me of the quality music that Timbaland and Magoo used to put out, and to my surprise he hits me back:

“Wait i cant retweet that… I aint Magoo LOLOL.”

Caught me completely off-guard, but it was funny. I started following the dude, and I began to like him more as a person. It makes it easier to like someone when their music meshes with their personality. Genuine people make genuine music. That being said.. if you’re in need of a hip-hop fix, I got something for you…

The Good:

In case it wasn’t implied by the post name, Joell Ortiz and Novel have teamed up for a new mixtape, titled “Defying the Predictable.” The two are familiar with working together, and have done so several times in the past. It makes sense for them to collaborate; I only wonder how come it hasn’t happened sooner. Read the rest of this entry »





B.o.B. aka Bobby Ray – “May 25th” (Mixtape Review)

8 02 2010

See? Pretty artwork, Charles Hamilton. Take notes. (joking. kinda. Not really.)

K1ng Eljay – Who’s still sleeping on B.O.B.?

Shame on you if you raised your hand because 1) you’re missing out on something great, and 2) you’re an idiot because no one can see you. Great job buddy.

B.o.B/Bobby Ray has been making noise almost everywhere ever since his emergence as an artist on T.I.’s Grand Hustle record label. Since then, he’s make select moves, but all of them have been surprisingly potent. From his “Autotune” spoof on Youtube, to his “Hi, My Name is BOB” mixtape, to being featured on certain songs, to dropping an interesting single for the radio/TV rotation (“I’ll Be In The Sky”), he’s managed to keep his name on the tongue of most people without dropping a major album.

Well, all of that changes on May 25th when the debut album finally drops. What better way than to get people ready for it by dropping a mixtape with DJ Drama for promotion?

Sounds like a plan to me.

The Good:

There is something captivating about Bobby Ray’s demeanor on tracks. Whether he’s singing, rapping, or sing/rapping, no one can deny that B.o.B was made to do this music thing. Even the freestyles for the mixtape have a different flair than other downloads in its genre. Read the rest of this entry »





Bun B – “No Mixtape” (Mixtape Review)

8 02 2010

No Mixtape...the mixtape? Anyone else appreciate irony like me???

K1ng Eljay – We all do remember that a review is nothing but a glorified opinion…right? Ok, making sure. On to the review…

Recently, I saw a new track from Bun B on allhiphop.com, so I clicked it automatically. The first thing I hear is Bun saying:

“N*gga called me, talkin’ ‘bout ‘B! What’s the name of the mixtape? When’s it comin’ out?’ I said ‘B***h, this is the mixtape! We goin’ live right now! This track seven!”

You can’t say the UGK Alumni doesn’t have a sense of humor.

I can honestly say that I was not expecting Bun B to drop a mixtape of straight freestyles and album snippets, but because of the fact that there’s no DJ drops, no edits, and it’s just straight Bun B for the entire mixtape…. If you’re a UGK fan, you need this. This will get you excited for the album. Point blank.

The Good:

It’s just Bun. No DJ Drama, no DJ snatch backs halfway through the verses, no cameos. It’s just Bun B wrecking every beat possible…

Except Exhibit C. The beat came on, and Bun cut it off and showed off his sense of humor again (“Nope, it’s time to put this to rest. We gon’ have “Exhibit Triple-F” in a minute..” Read the rest of this entry »





Charles Hamilton – “Normalcy” (Mixtape Review)

8 02 2010

Um...not sure what to think about the album art...honestly.

K1ng Eljay - History Lesson 101:

One of the best mixtapes I’ve ever heard was Charles’ Hamilton’s “Pink Lavalamp.” One of the best freestyles I’ve heard was when C.H. spazzed on DJ Green Lantern’s show for 20 minutes. One of the first people I decided to follow on Twitter (3rd, actually) was Charles Hamilton. One of the first people to actually respond to any question I had about a celebrity or anything like that…was C.H (we had a convo about different races dating, and why it shouldn’t be a big deal). Also, the first mixtape review I’ve ever done for HipHopStateofMind.com was his mixtape…

So of COURSE I’m going to be all over this when it dropped. Unfortunately, I forgot about the music “review” part because I honestly was too busy listening and bumping the music in Indianapolis during Christmas break while eating Chipotle with Rhymestyle.

Pause.

That being said, it says something about a mixtape when it’s over a month later and it still gets spins religiously like it’s a full-feature LP. So, I’ll just put this out there. When you think of C.H., “Pink Lavalamp” and “Normalcy” should come to mind. It’s by far his two best projects he’s ever released. Read the rest of this entry »





Featured Artist: S-Preme – Dj Booth Freestyle [Winner]

2 02 2010

S-Preme returns back to the scene after his most recent project The Sicktape: Volume Two with a freestyle for DJBooth.net

Listen and rate below!

Link: S-Preme – Winner (prod. by Woody)





Mixtape: B.o.B. – May 25th

2 02 2010


This project is DOPE, Im about 60% through it and heard enough to say its DOPE… Dont sleep

Download: BoB – May 25th [Mixtape]





Featured Artist: D.Martin – D.MaRtin’s Vault Vol.1 [mixtape]

31 01 2010




J.O.K.E. (Journal of K1ng Eljay) – “A Slight Difference”

27 01 2010

Sometimes, you don't even have to speak to a hater. Just wave and keep moving.

I’ve been noticing a disturbing trend the last year or two that I’ve been writing these J.O.K.E.s and album reviews. There are a lot of times where I’d go on a website and a new song by Lil’ Wayne and/or Drake would be a feature story – because websites usually love to leech on to people that generate interest, and they do it very well – and before I even listen to the song, I’d read the comments just to get a feel of what I’m about to hear. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t, but regardless I listen to the song for myself before stating my opinion.

There are several types of comments that are nested below the song, usually. You have your “Stans”, which don’t even listen to the song. They just hit the comment box and exclaim that everything Wayne touches is gold, with things like…

“WEEZY F ALL DAY! Young MOO-LAH on the MAP!”

Then you have the people that don’t listen to the song, but want you to hear their mixtape. For some reason, they think that because I see THEIR name commenting on every song, this is suddenly going to make ME say “Hey, maybe I should see if they’re NOT a traditional MySpace rapper!”

No. I refuse to let you waste my free internet listening to your music. Then, you also have the type of people that can’t type to save their lives, with things like…

“U kno wat is beez abat! Dis dat new ish 1 be lokin 4! Gunna put dis on fa da shawty!”

No comment. Read the rest of this entry »





J.O.K.E. (Journal of K1ng Eljay) – “An Illuminating Theory…”

23 01 2010

Jay-Z's sparking controversy, yet again...he's kind of good at this thing, isn't he?

Every single day in every single way, I become more and more annoyed with the Jay-Z situation. Because of his questionable images in his recent videos, the hip-hop star has become the center of attention for allegedly being a freemason and/or part of the Illuminati…

For the record, the Illuminati were (are?) a secret organization or groups that are supposedly responsible for a lot of the behind-the-scene things that have happened in huge events. It is supposedly dead, being disbanded in the late 1800s, but at the time in the 1700s, it was thought of as not being true, so take that for what you want…

Anyway, Jay-Z is at the forefront of this whole situation again. If you remember, this isn’t the first time he’s been in this negative light. Ever since he took up the name of the “god MC” aka “Hova” aka any other name he has that infringes on Christianity, this has been somewhat of a low cloud that has hung over him. But like I said, this is really nothing new to me. Read the rest of this entry »





J.O.K.E. (Journal Of K1ng Eljay) – “A Letter To SlaughterHouse…”

18 01 2010

I swear, Slaughterhouse is like hood, hip-hop Power Rangers. I can dig it though.

To the S.H. Machine,

I know you guys are all busy recording music and fighting crime as your secret night jobs as superheroes, so I won’t waste your time. I’ll just get right to it.

Usually I’m all for peace. I really think it shows immaturity when two people or groups that dislike each other can’t co-exist. In every public venue, there’s bound to be people that don’t like each other, whether it’s a job or a club or wherever. Even in music, I prefer peace…usually.

But in this case, I’m willing to make an exception.

See, I’ve been following the demise/downfall of Benzino since he screwed over The Source and single-handedly devalued its rating system and my favorite hip-hop magazine (at the time). Remember when getting 5 Mics in the Source used to mean something?

During this downfall, he had words with Eminem and basically said he needed to die, in which Eminem handed him his butt on a platter… And then released “Nail In The Coffin” for kicks and giggles. Everyone stopped listening after that. Shady killed him, we moved on.

So when in the middle of last year when Benzino suddenly decides to crawl out and make a couple of diss records and take a few shots at Eminem and at you guys…everyone ignored it.

Well, it seems like it, because I didn’t know he had been talking until about a week ago, and the Youtube videos date back to as far as July (which was right about the time the SlaughterHouse LP had just come out). So OBVIOUSLY, his opinion doesn’t matter anymore. So obviously, we are all completely aware that it would be a waste to just unload on this guy on a track. It’s a waste of energy, and a waste of time.

But…

Seriously...JUST...LOOK..AT...HIM. I don't even have to MAKE a funny caption, because you can just look and automatically spit out whatever you're drinking. It's TOO easy.


He’s asking for it, don’t you think? So here’s my PLEA. I know how y’all take shots at people and keep moving…I see how Royce tweets about it occasionally…

But it would be great if you guys go ahead and just finish him. I mean, Mortal Kombat “Fatality” style. I mean, Joe Budden at Prodigy in the last verse of “Blood On The Wall” style. I want the Royce Da 5”9 “Who Got Bodied”, streetsweeper-status type diss.

(I would say I want a Nas “Ether” style-diss, but obviously, it wasn’t that much of an “Ether” because Nas went and signed to a label ran by the guy he Ethered, and then the supposed “Ether” victim jumped ship and left Nas to drown, but whatever. That’s a different topic)

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the reason he’s dissing now is for attention. So I think that maybe this one time you should just blast on him for your fans sake.

LYRICALLY. Not with real guns and rocket launchers. I know how y’all do…

At the very least, you could use it as something to hold the fans over until the next album comes out…

Or you can ignore him and let him just rot to death somewhere unimportant. Your call.

But I personally dig the diss idea. I know it might not be as noble of a thing to do, considering your secret superhero duties. But we don’t know which superheroes you are, so…

Just consider the idea.

Signed,

K1ng Eljay