Benz and a Backpack

One of the things I like most about hip hop right now is that the young guns and veterans alike are chillen on the grind like a rusty gear*. There’s a whole crop of young emcees bringing fresh perspectives to the game, while the mainstays continue to drop hot shit that bucks the traditional career trend of older rhymers (see: to fall off). And the best part about it? There’s room for everyone- young & old, fat & skinny, male & female, East & West, black, white, & everything in between!

This week’s Mixtape Monday features brand new tracks from Slick Rick, Meth, Rae, & Ghostface, XXL Freshmen Jay Rock, J. Cole & Fashawn, the homie XV, and more! Hit the skip for the DL link and a Wu Tang video that’ll bring you straight back to ’93.

*Shouts to the homie Element, who dropped a dope new joint last week.

Jay Rock ft. Ab-Soul – Can I Roll

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Young Chris ft. J. Cole – Still The Hottest

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Freestyle, Wordsmith, & M-Dot – Struggle

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Meth, Ghost & Rae – Miranda

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As a whole, this mixtape is only as good as its collective parts. And though Nipsey Hussle, Big Sean, Freddie Gibbs, Wiz Khalifa and J. Cole throw down on tracks 3-8, DJ Whoo Kid makes sure to remind all of us why the artists are always better than the DJ when he’s on the joint. Yes, whooooo kiiiiiid, we know its you, we know you like cutting in with little kids in the playground and horror noises, but da Juiceman has said “bread in the kitchen” enough… there is no need to “throw that shit back.”

Highlights are a dope beat on track 6, Fashawn going in on track 4, and J Cole showing his NY state of mind on “Who’s World.” All in all, its a good product from 10 esteemed young artists.

Since datpiff doesn’t want to tell you the artist order, and since its an incomplete version of the tape, we’ll post it below the jump for you. Download the full tape at XXLmag.com

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On Monday XXL released the cover for its 10 Freshmen for ’10 issue following a month-long promo campaign that featured videos of each rapper on the list flowing. After doing some digging I found out a few fun facts:

1. Drake and Nicki Minaj turned down the opportunity to be on the list because they felt they were too good for it at this point.
2. Apparently Drake also felt like it was a huge snub that he didn’t make the list in ’09, but it may have been better for his career seeing as half of the people on that list (see: Ace Hood, Cory Gunz, Mickey Factz, Asher Roth, Charles Hamilton) have plateaued like a motherfucker.
3. Either way, XXL missed out on the boy from T Dot and may have made another gaffe this year: XV. Dude made major noise with Everybody’s Nobody and has been steadily releasing material since. XXL better hope he stays below the radar so they don’t go 2-for-2!
4. Check back for more details about the XXL Top 10 Freshmen Party going down in NYC later this month. Seeing all these dudes at one time would be pretty ill.

Hit the skip for the 10 videos. Watch them all the way through (the longest is only about a minute), vote for whose verse you thought was the best, and if you have a sec leave a comment explaining why.
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The N(Y)C native is at the helm of this new school of rappers with the tiller firmly in his hand, rudder at his command. Easily the coldest spitter of the group, Cole has an advantage on every other rapper in XXL’s Top 10 Freshmen. Hit the skip for a breakdown of the list, plus music from Cole you may have missed over the past couple months.

J. Cole – College Boy

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J. Cole – Shook Ones Freestyle

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There’s something strangely prophetic about this year in hip-hop. Recent research from credible academic sources (like my boy Richie) has discovered 2010 to be “the year of the J.” Here, J does not mean ‘jumpshot,’ nor is it weed rolled up with white paper. It implies jubilation, or even rebirth. Hear me out, skeptics, the evidence only mounts further from here.

Not only is it the TENTH letter of the alphabet, (count ‘em, bitch) but there are five (half of TEN!) artists that go by ‘Jay’ or ‘J’ for short, that are undoubtedly setting the tone for hip hop in 2010. Let’s run them down real quick.

Jay-Z: This one is a no brainer. Sean Carter has been around for ages, and even though half of us don’t know why he chose Jay as his MC apellation, none of us can question the attention he has brought to the game. I won’t even argue how commercialization has tarnished his rep (read: rap) a bit lately, because there were times in the early 2000s hip hop recession where he straight held it down just long enough for the young talent to emerge. And now, more than ever, those butterflies are leaving the cocoon, or some shit.
Prophets say: This might be the year where Jay realizes he can just let his legacy roll, and with the way he’s lined up Roc Nation’s new talent J. Cole, he just might be able to sit pretty on the mountain he built. Read the rest of this entry →

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Shouts to clutchone and andyd who are currently on their way to Cuba (yup, you read that correctly). We’re hoping President Obama can continue on the road he inched down earlier this year and dismantle the embargo, because frankly it’s ineffective and extraterritorial (and we want to visit Havana for some Sinatra-style partying).

Top to bottom, every track is good. Let’s kick off the week correctly:

J. Cole – Back To The Topic Freestyle
Filling out his buzz, J. Cole captures the tension that behind realizing when you succumb to hip hop’s evils, but allowing it to happen nonetheless. His production is always on point, and lyrically he’s always relevant.

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Trek Life – As The World Turns (prod. 9th Wonder) [unofficial]
Off Transmitting Live Volume 1 (cop the whole mixtape at PotHolesInMyBlog), Trek Life goes in over some classic 9th Wonder production.

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Raekwon ft. Ghostface Killah and Cappadonna – 10 Bricks
Raekwon continues to hype up Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II, this time with the immortal Ghostdini.

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Sene – PaperPlanePushers (prod. Blu a.k.a. GODleeBarnes)
The production on this track is from Blu, who recently dropped an EP of the instrumentals from his upcoming project No Sleep For A Day. Again, a dope track from Transmitting Live Volume 1.

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Drake ft. Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Eminem – Forever
You can bet Drake’s Forever is gonna be a HIT despite the lackluster performance by Wayne. Kanye was up to par, while Drake was better and Em was the best.

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Element – Cruise Control
Another high-quality track from Toronto-bred emcee Element.

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