DJ Drama and Lil' Wayne, Dedication
This one was in the running for #1, and really each of the top 3 could make a strong case for being mixtape of the year. All three are solo CDs, focused on one artist, and that seems to be what sounded the best to me this year.
Lil Wayne has been around for years now; he has seen the rise and fall of the Cash Money Records, and has come out of the shadows of Juvenile, Mannie Fresh and Birdman to become one of the big names in the game on his own. Quite a story, and with all that transpired in New Orleans this Fall with Katrina and its aftermath, I can only imagine what he will say in the new year. I'm not sure that anything could top this mixtape, which dropped in the summer, an official release consisting entirely of flows and freestyles from Weezie.
What comes across is that Wayne is a star, an entertainer and one of the great lyricists in the game. I mean, T.I. always seemed like the logical successor after Jay-Z retired. But, hearing Weezy kill song after song, rolling with every instrumental, makes me reconsider. Or perhaps I'm just sentimental for the days when Cash Money ruled the game, when the gang was together, Mannie Fresh was dropping all the beats, Juvenile was a star, B.G. and Wayne were the young lions, and Baby was doing whatever the hell he did.
-Speaking of Drama and mixtapes, he has a new one out with T.I., a.k.a. T.I.P., a.k.a. The King of the South, called The Leak. This is dropping in advance of the new album, The King, and makes it clear that the early part of 2006 will be T.I.'s to lose. Buy it here.
-Good to see U Mean Competitor is back in the new year, and even better to see that 2005 is going to be just like 2006, in other words "Dipset all year every year." That seems like a good hint for the next mixtape we will look at here, by the way. Just FYI.
No comments:
Post a Comment