At first I wasn’t gonna post another mixtape, but then I thought about it: It’s Friday and we’re probably not posting anything this weekend. Plus, this is the third installment of 50 Cent’s ThisIs50.com mixtape (And I liked the first two; Return Of The Body Snatchers & Elephant In The Sand). Well, the theme on Sincerely Yours, Southside is 50 rapping over old school R&B beats (Isn’t that kinda what Skillz did on Design Of The Decade?). I’m currently listening to it right now and to be real with you, I’m not really feeling it. Maybe I need to listen more or maybe I’m just lame. What do you think (Not about me being lame, about the mixtape)?

Download: 50 Cent – Sincerely Yours, Southside

Before we began, let’s be clear about it; I already reviewed this album last year. Yep, Little Brother released this Mick Boogie powered mixtape last year and I gave it 3 Stars (Back before we stopped reviewing mixtapes). Matter of fact, go ahead and check out the original review first. Go ahead, I’ll wait…okay you back? Good. The only thing I’m covering today is the new tracks added for the official release of And Justus For All. After releasing 3 great albums, I don’t think this “official” mixtape will actually get them the notice they deserve. But, they still make good music though. Let’s check out the new material for the album.

Too Late For Us
Featuring Tiye Phoenix; Produced by DJ Spinna
After you hear the first new song of the album, you know right away that it’s not a throw away track. Phonte does some more moonlighting by singing on the hook and the song turns out to be a great duet about lost loves. Tiye Phoenix does a good job of singing/rapping while countering Phonte. The beat is laid back and fits the mood. Pooh doesn’t show up for this track but I’m sure he’ll show up later.

Cool As Fan
Produced by Khrysis
Speak of the devil. Big Pooh starts off this track and starts it off right. Phonte comes next and kills it; “Niggas talking major/But they got no flavor like white folk’s Kool-Aid”. No hook, just two verses. The song clocks in at about 2 ½ minutes, but it’s straight Hip-Hop.

Lose It
Featuring Jozeemo; Produced by Khrysis
It’s nappyafro’s favorite rapper! What up Jozeemo? Naw for real, I can’t really say anything bad about the dude. Besides the bias bullshit; he does good on the first verse; “Wanna dive off the stage/But I weigh 250/I ain’t fucking up my threads/Cause I’m way too jiggy”. The song deals with the feeling they get when they perform on stage. The beat is kinda redundant after a while; but it works.

Stylin’
Featuring Oh No; Produced by Khrysis
Khrysis surprised me and changed up with this electronic themed track and surprisingly the track works (I see dudes freestyling on this one all day). This track has Rapper Big Pooh and Oh No going on about what happens to the people around you when you start getting a little fame and wealth. I never really checked for Oh No liked that, but his verse wasn’t bad at all.

Time Of Your Life
Featuring Carlitta Durand; Produced by Designated Hitters
This is not really a new track per se. It was on last year’s GetBack (Which we gave a 4.5 Stars). It’s still a great song though (If you got that album, pull it back out and listen to it).

Black Light Special
Produced by 9th Wonder
It’s funny, the only new song on the album that was produced by 9th Wonder and I really didn’t like it. It’s not bad; it just could have been better. Pooh (Who goes on this one solo) tries to work with the beat but something just doesn’t feel right.

Bottom Line:
Even if you downloaded the free version of And Justus For All, you still might wanna pick up the official version; the songs are mastered, DJ free, and sound clearer. Plus the new songs adds something to the album. If you never heard this album, it’s not a bad addition to any Hip-Hop collection. Don’t get me wrong, some songs like Phonte’s “Last Day” are not here and are sorely missed. But the new songs compensate for that and are at least worth an extra ½ of a Star Rating. In recent interviews with Little Brother, it was hinted that this might be the last “official” album from Little Brother. If this is true, fans might wanna show some love to a truly slept on Hip-Hop group. (*Rating for this review is based on the previous review also)

Download: Little Brother feat. Tiye Phoenix – “Too Late For Us”

So DJ’s are coming together to diss Lil’ Wayne. We aren’t vouching for anything that Weezy says, but it’s obvious that the DJ’s got it out for him! Check out the cover of the mixtape that a group of DJ’s put out. Quite funny! While it has all the songs from the album, it has some more mixtape joints on there. My question is this, so you are mad at Wayne, but you’re still releasing mixtapes with his name on it? Did I miss something here? He said, “Fuck you” and instead of putting someone else on the mixtape, you go back with Weezy because he does NUMBERS!

Speaking of DJ’s, Jermaine Dupri has upset Greg Street with his latest comments about the DJ being DEAD! Damn JD, it’s like that? Well if you haven’t seen the clips, here is the one from JD and the rebuttal from Greg Street. Greg goes in on JD, but I want to know where I can get one of those chess boards from.

Jermaine Dupri: “The DJ is dead.”

Greg Street: “The DJ is not dead!”

I told y’all that I was gonna pick back up where I left off and I’m back once again with yet another Rewind Review for your reading pleasure. This time I coming to you with a mixtape DJ album, since that’s currently a highly debated topic right now with Lil’ Wayne’s recent comments towards them. Statik Selektah (not “Static Selector”, hence the album’s title), who is a highly recognized DJ within the mixtape circuit released an album based off his “Spell My Name Right” mixtape series, similar to what DJ Drama did with Gangsta Grillz: The Album. As you might expect with these type of DJ albums, they usually are filled with collaborations on every track from various artists that the DJ has worked with in the past and done work for. Many times these albums are usually hits and misses, so let’s see how Statik’s album does in comparison to the compilations/albums that have been released before.

Spell My Name Right Intro
Featuring DJ Premier & Termanology; Produced by Statik Selektah
This intro track features DJ Premier setting the mood for the album to come and giving it that sort of mixtape feel, especially if you have listened to a DJ Premier mixtape before or heard his radio show (Live From HeadQCourterz) on Sirius satellite radio. Statik produces a nice beat for this initial track, which features fellow Boston native Termanology lacing the rhymes. Nothing really special about this track, just hearing Termanology rhyming out the name of all of the artists featured on the album.

Stop, Look, Listen
Featuring Styles P, Termanology, & Q-Tip; Produced by Statik Selektah
The intro leads nicely into the second track, which also happens to be the single off the album. Statik laces this track with some very nice production that is handled well by the collaborative efforts of Styles P, Termanology, and Q-Tip. Styles P does his thing and drops a solid verse, as well as Termanology as he displays why he’s one of the nicest upcoming emcees and was featured in The Source’s “Unsigned Hype” article a while back. It’s a pleasure to hear Q-Tip spitting some lines on the track as well as I haven’t heard much from him in a minute.

Express Yourself ‘08
Featuring Termanology, Talib Kweli, & Consequence; Produced by Statik Selektah
This track is Statik Selektah’s attempt to recreate N.W.A.’s classic track “Express Yourself” from their Straight Outta Compton album released in 1989. It’s been about 20 years since the release of that track and I can say that it still holds the crown and this track doesn’t really come close to the magic of the original. Don’t get me wrong though cause Statik hooked up the beat on this one quite nicely and the three emcees each do their thing respectively, but this can’t compare to N.W.A.’s original version. As you can see this is Termanology’s third straight featured song and you should get used to it cause he’s on quite a bit more tracks being one of Statik’s homeboys. Out of the three emcees on this track, I’d have to say that Talib Kweli spit the best verse and even though Consequence is a good rapper, it’s difficult to understand what he’s saying at times.

6 In The Morning
Featuring Joell Ortiz, Kool G Rap, & Sheek Louch; Produced by Statik Selektah
Immediately at the outset of this track you feel a sudden change of energy and things slow down at bit. The production on this track from Statik is somewhat average and starts to get boring really quickly. The artists featured on this track don’t really do much to improve on the lackluster beat and aren’t really saying much other than how they are on their grind and up at 6 in the morning on the block putting work in. This track is a skip for me.

What Would You Do!?
Featuring Freeway & Cassidy; Produced by Statik Selektah
This track features some much better production from Statik with a soulful sounding sampled beat provided for the team of Freeway and Cassidy to attack. I know that this is something that a lot of people expected never to see in Philly natives Freeway and Cassidy collaborating on a track together seeing as how they had beef in the past and Cass got in that ass during their classic battle (yes I think Cassidy murdered Freeway in their battle). They both spit some nice rhymes on this track, even though Freeway’s overly aggressive delivery feeling out of place at times and Cassidy’s dull sounding delivery make his rhyming sound boring. This is a good track nonetheless bringing together two good young emcees that once had problems with each other. All these rappers that have “beef” with each other need to take note of this.

Make A Movie (Interlude)
Featuring DJ Khaled; Produced by Statik Selektah
This interlude track was definitely not needed on this album, especially one from DJ Khaled who is really saying nothing at all. I don’t know what a lot of people see or like in Khaled, but he’s definitely not doing much in my book. Skip this track without a doubt. “LLLLIIISSSSSTTTTEEEENNNN!!!!!” (Shut the fuck up with that shit man, damn!)

Bam Bam
Featuring Red Café, Termanology, & Mims; Produced by Statik Selektah
This sample, which was also used for Guerilla Black’s single “Compton”, has been used enough and didn’t need to be used again for this track. Guerilla Black’s version was good and listenable, but this version is kind of boring. The production is good, but the featured artists on this track aren’t really saying much of anything. Red Café is nice in his own terms, but didn’t really bring it to the table this time. Termanology (back again) sounds just average in his rhyming and is kind of starting to sound the same on every track mainly because he uses the same rhyme pattern/scheme and vocal tone on a majority of them. When it comes to Mims I don’t even know why he was included on this track, let alone the album. He probably has the weakest verse on this track, but it’s no surprise though cause after his little “This Is Why I’m Hot” fame he isn’t anywhere to be found now (Ha!). This track is listenable, but not one of my favorites on the album.

G Shit (Showoff Mix)
Featuring Uncle Murda, Sev-One, Termanology, & Jadakiss; Produced by Statik Selektah
Statik did his thing in a major way with the production on this track as it brings back some energy to the album. With four artists featured on this track, they all tell about that “G Shit” and what being gangsta is all about. Uncle Murda sounds the most convincing after listening to his verse, especially in knowing his background and artist persona. Jadakiss fills the void in this track nicely and really makes it complete with his verse at the end (nice to hear him back on the scene).

Back Against The Wall
Featuring Cormega & Royce Da 5’9”; Produced by Statik Selektah
This track features some nice production work from Statik with Royce Da 5’9” and Cormega laying down some rhymes. Royce comes out with a bang in dropping the initial verse, but Cormega is just average with his lyrics. This track is good for what it is, but nothing really spectacular or amazing.

Hardcore (So You Wanna Be)
Featuring Reks & Termanology; Produced by Statik Selektah
Once again Statik comes with some nice production on the beat for this track. The lyrics on this song are provided by Reks and…you guess it Termanology (for his 6th feature). Reks and Termanology both provide some average lyrics on this track, but they could have been better to match up to the nice beat that Statik provided.

No Mistakes Allowed
Featured Doug E. Fresh, Tony Touch, Scram Jones, DP-One, DJ GI-JOE, DJ Revolution, & Esoteric; Produced by Statik Selektah
Damn, it’s nice to hear Doug E. Fresh on the intro of this track with some classic beatboxing from the man himself. This track has a lot of features on it and they all do their thing whether it’s spitting rhymes or scratching on the chorus. This is nice for hearing the many talents displayed on one track. Just sit back and enjoy this track for what it is and nothing more.

Interlude
Featuring Clinton Sparks; Produced by Statik Selektah
If Statik Selektah was going to have just one interlude on this album, it definitely should have been this one. Skip that DJ Khaled interlude heard earlier in the album, Clinton Sparks is speaking some truth on this interlude. He’s talking about how the rap game nowadays is filled with so many DJs who have no creativity and how it’s oversaturated with so much wackness. CHURCH!!!

Punch Out
Featuring Big Shug; Produced by Statik Selektah
When I first played this track I immediately was on the floor laughing. I could believe that Statik sampled the classic Mike Tyson Punch-Out game for NES (the best boxing game of all-time by the way). That was some funny and creative production by Statik, but my laughter turned to dislike after hearing Big Shug rhyming over it. I really dislike Shug’s voice and only think it sounds good over dark, gritty sounding tracks like “The Militia” or something produced by DJ Premier. Other than for getting a good laugh and bringing back some old memories about Mike Tyson Punch-Out, this track is pretty much a skip for me. I had to go hook up my NES and play some Mike Tyson Punch-Out after listening to this track (I hate fighting Mike Tyson in the final bout though, he cheats like a muh’fucker!!!)

The Good Life (Give It Up)
Featuring M.O.P.; Produced by Statik Selektah
This has to be one of the smoothest produced tracks by Statik on the entire album, and surprisingly M.O.P. fit well rhyming over it. Usually M.O.P. sound their best of harder sounding beats, but they put it down lyrically on this track. I just wish that this track was longer than it is at only 1:06. I would have loved to hear more of this track, guess I just have to keep it on repeat for a while.

Big Dreamers
Featuring Reks; Produced by Statik Selektah
Another track with some good production from Statik, which really fits well with Reks’ rhymes and the song’s topic. This is a pretty good track featuring Reks with him talking about his dreams and goals for achieving what he sets to in life and the struggles along the way.

No Holding Back
Featuring AZ & Cormega; Produced by Statik Selektah
This next track features some average production from Statik. It’s a good beat, but it starts to wear on you after a while of listening to it. Plus, featured guests AZ and Cormega don’t really do much to keep me interested in the song. They both spit some rhymes that are just average and don’t really catch my attention throughout the song. This song would be a skip for me.

Got Me Goin’ (Hip Hop)
Featuring Slum Village & Granite State; Produced by Statik Selektah
After a song with average production from Statik, he comes back with that good shit on this track with a nicely composed beat. What makes this song even better is the feature of Slum Village on the track. They sound really comfortable over the beat and drop some nice lyrics as well. Granite State does a decent job with their rhymes, but Slum Village really steals the show on this one.

Time To Say Goodbye
Featuring Evidence & The Alchemist; Produced by Statik Selektah
Out of all of the tracks on this album, this track sounds the most fitting to its featured guests. The production from Statik sounds like something that could have been produced by either Evidence or Alchemist. That really makes it even better for the two artists to drop some nice rhymes over it. Despite that, neither Evidence nor Alchemist really spit anything that’s worth taking note of. The beat is really what shines out on the track.

It’s Over Now
Featuring Termanology & A.G.; Produced by Statik Selektah
As stated earlier about the track “The Good Life (Give It Up)” in the smoothness of its production, this has to be the other smoothest produced track on the album. If Termanology was to only be featured on one track throughout this entire album, this was the one for him. I think this is his best spit verse out of all of the other tracks he’s featured on. A.G. spits some nice rhymes to complement Termanology with the rhyming, but he doesn’t outdo him by any means. This is a great track to just listen and chill out to, especially in the production from Statik.

Talk To Me
Featuring Jon Hope, Reks, & Skyzoo; Produced by Statik Selektah
I’m not really feeling the production on this track by Statik at all. It sounds too basic and its repetition gets annoying after the first verse (that’s never good for a beat). The idea for this track was a good one, but it just wasn’t executed well at all. The featured artists on this track are speaking a good message, but I just can’t seem to catch interest in what they’re saying particularly from the mediocre beat production.

Did What We Had To
Featuring KRS-One, Large Professor, & L Da Headtoucha; Produced by Statik Selektah
Once again the production from Statik on this beat gets repetitive far too quickly and makes it hard for really listening to the track in general. The artists on this track do a good job in taking us back in telling us what they had to do to make it in the rap game and come up in the industry. Who better than the likes of KRS-One and Large Professor to tell us about those times and their struggles to become the great legends in the game that they are today. This wasn’t a good way to end the album though with an average track.

Bottom Line:
In determining the final verdict for Statik Selektah’s Spell My Name Right album, I can say that after 21 tracks (which is too many and could have been reduced to 13 tracks for an even better album) Statik has produced a good sounding album. In produced every track on the album, Statik did his thing and put in work on the production side. He choices for featured artists could have been better and reduced at the same time. He should have been more selective in the artists that he featured on the album in keeping good emcees and declining the average/bad ones. Don’t just include rappers on your project just because you hosted one of their mixtapes or did a beat for them, which is usually the case with mixtape DJ albums. Nonetheless this is a album that will definitely be picked up by hardcore Statik Selektah fans and should be given a listen to from casual Hip-Hop listeners who don’t really follow Statik’s mixtapes or work in general. I’m sure that those fans will find some select songs off this album that they enjoy that they can purchase off iTunes if they don’t wanna cop the entire album.

nappyPicks: “Stop, Look, Listen”, “Express Yourself ‘08”, & “It’s Over Now”

Nas & Green Lantern are preparing to drop a mixtape called The Nigger Tape. Well, the artwork for the mixtape is out. What do you think? Hell, I guess Nas figures that he’s gonna drop something with “nigger” in it. All jokes aside, it took a while for me to get excited about the actual Nigger album (Now titled just Nas), but after seeing rumored tracklists and hearing Nas in some recent interviews, I’m actually looking forward to it. Even though he may sometimes not be acknowledged, Nas is still one of the best MC’s ever to rhyme. I’ve always been a big Nas fan but at first I thought he was just trying to starts some controversy, which I think he should be above (Remember the arguments Hip Hop Is Dead caused?). What do I think? Me? I’m all for shit like this that makes you think and remember. Here’s the full shot:

We usually don’t post all the latest mixtapes and what not, but I was up late and…you know. I’m glad Wale finally dropped the The Mixtape About Nothing. I been waiting for this every since I heard “Back In The Go Go”. It’s funny what gets you a buzz in today’s Hip-Hop/Rap game, but it’s good Wale’s found his nitch.Well anyway, download and enjoy. Stand up D.C., Maryland, Virginia!

Download: Wale – The Mixtape About Nothing

Just the other week, King Jerm and me were arguing about who was the better member of the 90’s Rap duo Illegal; Mally G (aka Jamal) or Lil’ Malik. While I still stand by my choice of Malik (Remember him on Monica’s “Like This And Like That”?), Jerm did point out that Jamal at least released a hit of his own; “Fades Em All”. What could I say? In 1995, that song was a banger! Coming off Jamal’s debut album, Last Chance, No Breaks, it was hard to deny the Redman and Rockwilder produced drums as well as the Biggie sample from “Ready To Die” (“I drop lyrics off and on like a light switch”). What even more crazy is that last week, Skillz dropped a mixtape called Design of A Decade (Where he raps over beats from the 90’s). One of the beats he chooses was, of course, “Fade ‘Em All” (or as Skillz has it listed on the mixtape’s cover, “F.E.A.”). So, I thought it be cool to have both versions as Song(s) of the Week. Old heads reminisce, young heads pull up a chair and learn some shit. Enjoy.

Download: Jamal – “Fades ‘Em All”

Album: Last Chance, No Breaks
Release Date: October 10, 1995

Download: Skillz – “F.E.A.”

Album: Design Of A Decade Volume 1
Release Date: 2008

Biggie had Lil’ Kim, Trick had Trina, and now Lil’ Wanye has Nicki Minaj. Speaking of Lil’ Kim, I think my whole interest in interviewing Nicki Minaj might because of Kimberly Jones; well, sort of. If you’re not familiar with Nicki Minaj, you might want to be. As first lady of Weezy’s own Young Money Records, she has made numerous mixtape appearances and recently released her own with Sucka Free. That brings me back to what started this, the ad for the Sucka Free mixtape. Nicki Minaj spread eagle ala Lil’ Kim’s Hard Core ad had the internet going nuts (As well as some other things). Well, after tracking Ms. Nicki Minaj down, I FINALLY got an interview. We talked about the her writing process, the current state of female rappers, and uh, a little about the Sucka Free poster.

B-Easy: What’s up Nicki? Where you at right now?

Nicki Minaj: Hey, I’m in Houston Texas with the President Weezy F

First thing first, I wanna get this question out of the way. Who came up with the idea for the Sucka Free ad?

My nigga Fendi (President of Dirty Money Records & Founder of the Come Up DVD series). His freaky ass saw my box poking out in some pics I took prior and recommended I redo the Hard Core pose.

Tell him I said thank you Nicki. Nicki Minaj; that’s a crazy name. I heard some stories, but where did the name come from?

It came from my real name which is Maraj. Fendi flipped it when I met him cause I got a nasty flow and I eat these bitches (Laughing).

The first time I actually heard you rhyme on a larger scale, I think it was on Lil’ Wayne’s Da Drought 3. How’d you meet Wayne?

He saw me on the Come Up Vol. 11 and was head over heels for Lewinsky! (Laughing) He made a call and I made the flight!

Being from New York, do you think it’s crazy you running with the Lil’ Wayne? Won’t people think you should be down with DipSet or D-Block?

I don’t give two flying fucks what people think lil’ daddy…

Okay, okay. Let’s change the subject then. What’s the process you go into when you write your rhymes? Do you write anything down?

Yes sir! I wish I could say I don’t write it down but I damn sure do! Bout to start my own label called “Write Ya Own Raps Records” bitches!

I can’t wait to see that logo. What’s your thoughts on the current state of female MC’s?

It’s missing NICKI MINAJ! But it’s cool; I got the “S” on my chest now. HEEEERREE I COME TO SAVE DA DAAAAYYYYY! (Singing & laughing) Shout out to Mighty Mouse.

Don’t forget Hong Kong Phoey. What’s the feedback from the fans and critics on the Sucka Free mixtape and Nicki Minaj in general?

Sucka Free has gotten great reviews from both fans and critics. I really stepped my pussy up on this one. You can still cop that on myspace.com/nickiminaj for all the non-believers. It comes autographed. So does that fat box poster (laughing). As for Nicki Minaj herself? Somebody always got that bitch name in their mouth, so I guess I’m doing something right (laughing).

Now on Sucka Free, you worked with Jadakiss, Ransom, and of course Wayne. Who else do you wanna work with?

Natasha Bedingfield, Leona Lewis, Mariah Carey, Keyshia Cole, Danity Kane, Jay-Z, to name a few.

Natasha Bedingfield? Really? If I was to check your iPod, what are you currently listening too? What’s in your stereo?

Leona Lewis. That broad got me right now; she’s dope! I’m big on R&B. I actually sing and write R&B so….

That’s where the money is at right now. Now, I heard the Pinky line on “Wanna Minaj” (“Sex game kinky/Niggas call me Pinky”) and I saw the pictures on you and her on your MySpace page. What’s up with that? You a fan of her work?

(Laughing) That’s cute. I wouldn’t say I’m a fan; I’d give dat bitch a run for her money! (Laughing again) nah, let me stop, I just met her and she’s really sweet. I actually hadn’t met her when I wrote that lyric though. I was just being funny. The actual lyrics is: “Sex game kinky/Niggas call me Pinky/Fuck with the presidents/I am Nicki Lewinsky!”

I appreciate the interview Nicki? Any parting shots?

Shout out to nappyafro.com, Dirty Money, The Famous Firm and of course Weezy F and the whole Young Money! To all the people that support me, thank you from the bottom of my heart! (Kissing sound)