Albums I listened to this week [7/20/08]

Wale - The Mixtape About Nothing
Wale's prior mixtape (100 Miles And Running) was an extremely strong effort. This go around, he presents a concept mixtape of sorts based upon the Seinfeld premise - a mixtape about nothing. Not only does the mixtape cover stick with this Seinfeld theme, but the opening track (which is actually called "The Opening Title Sequence") samples the Seinfeld theme song. Elsewhere the mixtape mixes in audio from Seinfeld's stand-up routines. The mixtape also includes (apparently) a drop from Julia Louis-Dreyfus giving her version of a shout-out to Wale. And then there's "The Kramer" which mixes in audio from Michael Richards' infamous incident at The Laugh Factory.

Highlights:

• "The Kramer"
  
• "The Vacation From Ourselves"
  

=======================

Larry Larr - Da Wizard Of Odds [1991]
I remember listening to this album in high school. (Scary.) As I recall, I enjoyed the album back then. However, it hasn't stood the test of time like other 1991 releases (such as 2Pac's 2Pacalypse Now, Black Sheep's A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing, Chubb Rock's The One, De La Soul's De La Soul Is Dead, DJ Quik's Quik Is The Name, Gang Starr's Step In The Arena, Ice Cube's Death Certificate, Main Source's Breaking Atoms, N.W.A.'s Efil4zaggin and Geto Boys' We Can't Be Stopped - not to mention others).

Nonetheless, the album provides a few good tracks worthy of listening to on multiple occasions.

Highlights:

• "My Ace, My Pal, My Partner" (with Kwame and E.S.T. of Three Times Dope)
• "Confused"
• "My Own Style"
  

===================
88 Keys - Adam's Case Files
88 Keys has produced tracks for Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Consequence, Musiq Soulchild, J-Live, Beanie Sigel and others. "Adam's Case Files" is a mixtape prelude to "The Death Of Adam." Mos of the beats are laid back and smooth. Guest artists include Guilty Simpson, Tanya Morgan and Grafh.

Some of the tracks seem very anti-woman. For example, "Wasting My Minutes" provides lines such as "She's so cool / She's hot / But a scholar / She's not" and "She's as dumb as a rock." Other songs seem to wander into this territory as well.

Highlights:

• "Fibs" (featuring Grafh)
• "Deal Breakers" (featuring Mr. Bentley)
• "Quit Playing" (featuring Serius Jones)
• "Cuddle Bums" (featuring Tanya Morgan)

===============
Big Sean - Finally Famous The Mixtape
Prior to picking up this mixtape, I hadn't heard of Big Sean (except for his one-track appearances on (1) Kanye West's Can't Tell Me Nothing mixtape and (2) 88 Keys' Adam's Case Files mixtape which I just listened to).

Upon listening to the mixtape, I learned quite a bit. Big Sean represents Detroit and is now signed to Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music label. His full length album will apparently be titled Finally Famous. And after listening to the mixtape, I am looking forward to the full length album. His style reminds me of a mix between Kanye West and Farnsworth Bentley. On paper, that sounds like a wack mixture, be he makes it work.

Highlights:
- "Get'cha Some"
- "All Night" (with Mr. Bentley)
- "I Get Money Freestyle"
- "Streets On Lock" (with Big Shan)
- "Dreams"
- "All My Life"
- "Call Me"
- "Freestyle" (over the beat from Notorious B.I.G.'s "I Got A Story To Tell")
- "Good Sh..."
- "Never Forget"
- "Money Being Made"
- "Mr. T"
- "Smoke N Drive"
- "Get'em"

Can you tell I really liked this mixtape?