July Mixtape Reviews
from Kyra Williams
Mark Battles - Until September: The title, Until September, stands for Mark Battles’ upcoming album release. However, he put this project out to cap off his mixtape success before the album. As a whole, I think this tape is a really nice body of work. It covers the serious social issues and also the common street topics. I like that he uses current public scenarios in his lyrics to portray a message. That often made me laugh because I understood where he was coming from. Although the production was good and I don’t have anything bad to say about the mixtape, it wasn’t amazing.
Sevyn Streeter - Shoulda Been There Pt. 1: When I first listened to this EP, I didn't really like the execution of the songs, but I liked the concept and reasoning behind each track. I feel like she has too great of a voice to sing the way she does on tracks like "Consistent." Despite those moments, she also shows her vocal range. I think she can do better with some tracks and make them R&B instead of Pop or contemporary. But other than that, her songwriting is still amazing as I expected. Sevyn represents for the ladies and gives a great break-up album. With that, she shows diversity through up tempo and slow records. She definitely has some great songs on here but to recognize and appreciate them I had to listen straight through two or three times.
Soulja Boy - M&M: In this mixtape, Soulja Boy stays true to his southern sound; from the beats to his lyrics, that's the vibe I get. However, each record sounds similar. It seems like he's run out of things to rap about and that makes the tape boring. He uses auto tune and his flow seems to be a little off at times as well. This is pretty disappointing considering his production was good.
DJ Mustard -10 Summers: This mixtape screams California. It has features from Ty Dolla $ign, IAMSU!, Jay 305, TeeFlii, Dom Kennedy, and The Game who represent. To represent the East side he has Brooklyn’s own, Justine Skye, appear on “Love” as the only female feature. Going deeper into the production of the tracks, this mixtape didn’t shy away from his unique sound which began to make the songs seem too similar to each other. I can usually tell when a song is produced by DJ Mustard for two reasons. One being because of his distinctive use of bass and the other is because I’m reminded of his other songs. However, I didn’t expect there to be a remake of “Candy” by Cameo which was executed really well in “All About You.” This is a compilation of songs that you can vibe to in the car, so it’s definitely a summer mixtape, hence the name.
Machine Gun Kelly - Fuck It: MGK does a great job of telling stories, expressing his feelings, and maintaining a great flow while making it evident that he holds his own in the rap game. I never felt like “I heard this before” when I listened to the tracks. But when I initially heard “Almost,” I thought, “This is the ‘Wild Boy’ MGK that I’ve missed.” I loved that he took me back to the beginning of his career. Throughout the tape, his beats were very consistent and enjoyable but the placement of “Rolling Stone” caught me off guard because of it’s Rock & Roll base that isn’t present in the other tracks. However, the song did turn out to be pretty good. Also, he should hold off on featuring full songs by other artists on his projects like “Biggie” by Ray Jr. Without those two things, this mixtape would be better. All in all, it has something for every MGK fan and that makes it a solid body of work.
Project Pat - Pistol & A Scale: Pistols, scales, and women pretty much sum up the topics of this mixtape. It pays homage to the streets and it’s raw. Project Pat lets listeners into his personal experiences in the streets when he was growing up and that builds a nice connection. To me, the production was really good and it deserves a listen.
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