What's New In Dart's iPod #61 AKA The Snowstorm Edition

There's currently a huge snowstorm coming to Boston (and I guess more parts of the East Coast) and it's supposed to bury us under a foot of snow. Since not very many albums that I haven't reviewed yet dropped this week I decided to include a couple of international joints to make it a four album review blog. I would've reviewed the new Donny Goines but I decided against it. Just download it and enjoy it folks. Since not much happened and I need to post before I have potential internet problems I'll just hurry up and get it in already.

This week I'll be reviewing four new projects that either leaked or recently hit store shelves in the following order: Anthony Hamilton "The Point Of It All", Cadik "Basic", Evidence "The Purple Taple Instrumentals" and Ras G "Beats Of Mind". For those of you new to this blog, I don’t rate albums on a scale or assign them a numerical value out of 5 or 10, instead I merely answer the all important question of “Is it worth buying or not?”. Here's how my "Cop It Or Not" ratings system breaks down below:

Oh No! This CD is a drink coaster/table balancer/doorstop/gerbil/hamster room divider/frisbee/discus/makeshift shield/last ditch choice for a visor/alternate shuriken choice. Sell this shit to whoever is dumb enough to buy it from you.

Maeby (Maybe)! Depending on your own set of personal preferences you might like this joint. Give it a listen first to see if it's in your lane or not.

Mos Def! Cop the album when it drops...'Nuff said.

Rain, sleet, snow! © Roc Marciano

Best Joints: The News, Cool, The Day We Met, Diamond In The Rough, I Did It For Sho, Hard To Breathe, Soul's On Fire, Please Stay, The Point Of It All, Fallin' In Love, Prayin' For You/Superman, Her Heart, Fine Again and She's Gone

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: This reminds me of the R&B I grew up with as a youngster. The same time of vocals I heard on my parents records and 8 tracks (I'm old, remember?). There is nothing to fast forward but plenty to rewind of "The Point Of It All". Between this album and the R&B joints I reviewed last week this is going to be a great Christmas as far as stocking stuffer CD's are concerned. I give this R&B full of grown folks Soul music an easy mos def. Don't sleep on it!




Best Joints: Beats From Budapest, Do It, Don't Look Back, One For You, All Sounds Blues, Keep It Real, Big Mountain, Sleep In The Studio, Basics, Hard Times, MC's I See Them and Zoska Beat

Hot Garbage: N/A (Step With Us and Egy egyszemélyes egyszemélyes were both meh to me)

Dart's Take: Don't sleep on this album! Hungarian DJ/producer Cadik teamed up with some of the best emcees in underground Hip Hop today like Elzhi, Invincible, Blu, Finale, Phat Kat, M.E.D. and One Be Lo to deliver an damn good LP that slipped under my radar for a while now. Find it and listen for yourself. Tracks like "Don't Look Back", "One For You", "Do It", "Basics" and "Hard Times" push "Basic" to a highly recommended maybe.





Best Joints: Take U Back, Pest, Lost Cause, I'm Like, Uh Oh, Shoot 1st, 421, Breakout, Space Gorilla, On Top, Darker Clouds, Ev' n Al', RTD, Hour Glass, Memories, Stockholm and Wake Up

Hot Garbage: My Way 90291, Bubbler and Stomp are all meh

Dart's Take: This is yet another nice collections of instrumentals from one of the best producers in the game Evidence. His previous instrumental projects "The Red Tape Instrumentals" and "The Yellow Tape Instrumentals" were both damn near flawless releases. While this one has a few familiar slaps on it, it also has a few throwaway joints (or ones I just wasn't feeling too tough with vocals over them). Due to the fact that the "Yellow Tape Instrumentals" still gets burn to this day on my iTunes I couldn't do better than a recommended maybe for this one.




Best Joints: Birth Of The Beat, I Luv It..., Random Selection, Crate Creator Dub, Ras G's Theme, One Fine Morning, Sketchbook, Tha Message, Jus Feel, Power Of Thought, Fa Sho, Dwight's Joint, Juju, Yea.., Overcast 78 Beat, Overcast 78 Beat (Two), Beats Of Mind, J.....B......, Bell Beez and Surnise

Hot Garbage: The Free Up (Party People) and Gravity were both meh to me.

Dart's Take: If you're a beathead like I am that likes the more experimental stuff and you don't let things like Japanese imports stop you from getting good music then you should definitely try to get your hands on Ras G's "Beats Of Mind" project on Dawn. If you just sit back and listen to this album you'll enjoy it thoroughly and even get your headnod on. This is a perfect album for me to do me frequent walking excurions through the Metro Boston area (oh, and to that girl that was staring at me quizzically this past Tuesday in Newbury Comics while I was reading a "Y The Last Man" trade paperback...yeah, I'm Dart Adams and thanks for calling me "cute").

If you prefer the more straight forward type of beat projects that feature strictly tracks you can either freestlyle or rhyme over then this LP will frustrate you at some points. I give "Beats Of Mind" a recommended maybe and caution the reader that it may be tough to get a physical copy of it for a reasonable price. It might be easier to go the digital route with this one, check Ras G's MySpace page to see it you can cop it that way first.



Late Passes (For Doz Dat Slept):


Projects I'm Looking Forward To Reviewing Once They Leak...I Mean Drop:

Rhymefest-El Che
Jay Electronica-Act II: Patents Of Nobility
Jay Electronica-Abracadabra: Let There Be Light
Royce Da 5'9"-Street Hop
Big Boi-Sir Luscious Leftfoot
Mos Def-The Ecstatic LP
Royce Da 5'9"-Street Hop
Magnif & J Dilla-Detroit Royalty
Blu-God Is Good
Sean Price, Guilty Simpson & Black Milk-Random Axe
Platinum Pied Pipers-Abundance
Method Man & Redman-Blackout 2
Redman-Muddy Waters 2
B.O.B.-The Adventures Of B.O.B.
Billy Danze-Behind Gatez
AG & O.C.-Oasis: Together Brothers
Baatin-Titus
Phat Kat and Elzhi are Cold Steel
The Beatnuts-The Planet Of The Crates
Skepta-Microphone Champion
Ski Beatz-Half Man, Half Amazing
Evidence-Cats & Dogs
MF Doom-Born Into This
Jadakiss-The Last Kiss
Eminem-The Relapse


Take your time, Dave. We'll be here when you're ready to get back in the game. Looking at Katt Williams and his current situation we now realize that you knew what you were doing after all.

One.