Mixtape Roundup: Chip Tha Ripper, MondreM.A.N. Soulja Boy And Young L, Young Dro, Blue Sky Black Death And Nacho Picasso

Soulja Boy and Young L – Mario & Domo Vs. The World

Soulja Boy has released three mixtapes since Dec. 30, 2011. Why should you download one of them, much less all three of them? Admittedly that’s a tough question to answer. For the past year or so Mr. Tell ‘Em has been caught in a basedworld holding pattern, rattling off mixtape after mixtape of the same bouncey, low-budget synth jams that owe a whole lot to music Lil B was creating circa 2008. The highlights of Soulja’s recent output are probably his collaboration with his Lil B, Pretty Boy Millionaires, and the Khalifa-indebted1up, but neither produced a certifiable hit on the level of “Speakers Going Hammer” or “Turn My Swag On,” which is a problem because Soulja Boy thrives on periodically producing these unexpected, weirdly addicting pop-rap anthems.

Like 50/13 and Gold On Deck, its immediate predecessors, Mario & Domo Vs. The World fails to produce a hit, but the album is noteworthy because it presents something more cohesive and entertaining than the genre-hopping 50/13 and the uninspired Gold On Deck. Soulja’s collaborator here is Young L, a rapper/producer who got his start making beats for and rapping with Lil B in the Pack but who has lately been producing some interesting stuff on his own.

Young L and Soulja Boy make a good team because Young L has the discipline Soulja Boy lacks as well as a consistent aesthetic approach: scorching keyboard lines, subterranean basslines, plenty of open space for Soulja’s wobbly vocals. As a rapper Young L also serves as a useful counter, rapping in a hoarse whisper and obviously not challenging Soulja for lyrical primacy – if you’re looking for verbal fireworks, this mixtape is obviously not for you. At its best, like the songs “Ba” and “Money Man,” Mario & Domo Vs. The World offers a conceivable middle ground between left-coast wobble and deep-south wamp.

Standouts: “Ba”; “Money Man”.

http://www.prefixmag.com/features/chip-tha-ripper-mondreman-nacho-picasso-soulja-boy-tell-em-young-dro-young-l/mixtape-roundup-chip-tha-ripper-mondreman-soulja-b/61079/

Soulja Boy “On That Ni**a”

Soulja Boy “On That Ni**a”

http://allhiphop.com/2012/01/29/soulja-boy-on-that-nia/

Soulja Boy & SpaceGhostPurrp Go to Twitter War.

Soulja Boy and SpaceGhostPurp had a keyboard brawl on Twitter.

SpaceGhostPurp claims Soulja Boy completely copied Lil B The Based God's style.

http://www.vladtv.com/blog/83898/soulja-boy-spaceghostpurrp-go-to-twitter-war/

Promising young rapper showcases Southside.

Malcolm Kelley could have used his experience growing up in inner city Chicago as fodder to create a street-rap persona. Or he could have pulled from his time at a nearly all-white private high school to create a “College Dropout”-like persona. Or he could have pulled a Rick Ross and fabricated an entire life’s story to craft a new identity.

Instead, Kelley decided to take those collective experiences and create music that is at times goofy, celebratory and gritty. Like a true product of the Internet era, his samples and influences are nearly schizophrenic: His third mixtape, “No Runner Up,” has samplings of all genres of rap and hip-hop that top 40 radio has played in the last 18 months.

I was first introduced to Kelley in high school, where I wrote a story about him for Marist High School’s newspaper. Here, I check in with Kelley again, to explore how his music has evolved.

The Daily Illini: In what ways is “No Runner Up” different from “Skyline Shorty”?

Malcolm Kelley: “No Runner Up” is way different because I was just being a rapper. On “Skyline Shorty,” you might of heard me lay down a beat or two. Here I’m just focusing on being a rapper. It’s just me testing my flow, because I don’t have to worry about producing no more.

DI: You’ve mentioned that “No Runner Up” was not hosted by a DJ? What is the importance of a DJ hosting a mixtape?

MK: Well, honestly, you go on all these mixtape sites such as Dat Piff, you got all these DJs hosting tapes. Basically the importance of it is to have the artist do the work and the DJ presents the work. I feel the DJ should be going in harder on the music than you do, you know what I’m saying? … Not having one is not really affecting it at all. If anything, it’s making it better. I honestly just wanted to give it to the people raw. I said on the tape that DJs are always putting their tag on it and bringing it back, which is really not a problem, but some of them are doing it way too much. Like, are you hosting a Malcolm Kelley tape or you hosting your own?

DI: How has your Chicago upbringing influenced your music?

MK: With Chicago, we’re always fighters. We’re trying to outdo each other and constantly be the best. But not in a bad way either. When people get disrespectful with it, that’s when it gets out of hand. The whole thing with me, I’m always fighting here. Every day is a battle, and I’m always trying to win. Every day is something new. It’s a lot of free-styling on this tape because it’s so real life.

DI: Describe your upbringing.

MK: I definitely went through some things some people don’t. Even the things I see today. I mean, everyone has it hard, but I had it harder than others. It made me motivated, it makes me work ten times harder, you know? You can’t dwell on the past. Even the experience going on Kairos and telling my stories. I had some guys come up to me and say, “Damn, you really did go through that stuff.” I take that same perspective into the studio, so I can’t lie to myself.

DI: You went to a private high school. Has that influenced your person or music?

MK: Marist has honestly really held down my music a lot. Music I knew I would never give a try to, I did because people were listening to it. Something might just catch my interests. I wasn’t being closed-minded.

DI: Being from the inner city but going to a private school, would you say you gravitate more towards gritty, more gangster lyrics or more backpack, early Kanye West verses?

MK: Every song is an everyday experience, know what I’m saying? You might be talking about the beats I choose. If I haven’t done it before or if it’s something I haven’t talked about before, Imma bless it, you know? Everything you hear in a Malcolm Kelley track is true though. Sometimes I might not even write it down, such as a song like “Cruise Mursik,” which is the kind of stuff we were listening to at that time. But it’s Chicago, man. Some of those gritty beats are like the streets we living in. … You can’t categorize me, and that’s the beautiful thing about it. If I feel like if I need to drop a song or throw a verse on your record, I do it from the bottom of my heart.

DI: Lets talk about your sound. Some of your music, like “Cruise Mursik,“ sounds like early, spacey and funky Outkast. Some of it is reminiscent of pop-rap like Soulja Boy. “Jo Montana” sounds like a Lex Luger banger. Do you gravitate to one sound or do you prefer exploring all genres of rap?

MK: I really don’t. I listen to a lot of different music. It’s whatever my producers pull up in the studio. If I’m feeling it, then I bless it, you feel me? With “Way Gone,” Track 5, you may say the song has a Soulja Boy, clubbish beat. Honestly, when I first did that record I didn’t like it. But Erik (track producer) said “What, boy, are you a fool? That song is hard.” That song was undone for months. I love that song now, but at first I didn’t feel it. I really just gravitate to whatever is hot. I try to be the most versatile rapper I can be, I don’t want to be put in a category. You don’t know what I’m gonna be doing. I might do alternative one day. One of my boys might sample a Taylor Swift beat, and I might switch that up and rap some crazy s*** over that.

DI: What artists today inspire your music?

MK: Well, right now, the way Chicago is coming up, it’s getting really crazy. You got artists like Chief Keef. Then you got King Louie, you can’t even turn at a stop sign without seeing his name. Those two are really inspiring me. I’ve been listening to some 2 Chainz, Lil Wayne. Been staying listening to Gucci (Gucci Mane, an Atlanta-based rapper). A lot of stuff. Mac Miller. I even switch up my sound, I’ll listen to some The Weeknd.

DI: You recently posted to social media some unflattering words about your label, Skyline Entertainment. What was that about and have things been resolved?

MK: Everyone is A1 Steak Sauce. I had to explain to the team that everything is good. Skyline Entertainment, we got to fight for it. Spacegang believes in this s***, so we have to fight for it. There were other Spacegangs out there trying to run with our name. We had to tell em ‘no, the real spacegang is from the Southside of Chicago.’

DI: You used to go by the nickname “Promise of Chicago.” Still call yourself that?

MK: I’ll be blunt, I really don’t. When a girl that came to Marist one night and heard me rap, and she met me at the Southside Irish parade, and called me the “Promise of Chicago.” I’ll never forget that feeling. It’ll always be on my heart and my mind though. Promise of Chicago was a promise I made that I was really gonna strive hard and rep the city. It was my promise to Chicago. I was saying that I will defy the odds, make it and rep for everybody in the city. You might hear a Gucci, you know where the hell he’s from. An artist like a Kanye West. I don’t know one artist who thinks of him like that. Yes he does talk about it, but it’s another thing to actually be here in it.

DI: Plan on keeping that promise?

MK: Hell yeah. Imma keep the promise and Imma keep on going. I’m gonna go to the moon, man. There is no top for me. Number 1 on the Billboard ain’t enough for me. I gotta do it again. I gotta get on it and stay on it. You may never hear an unsigned artist say this. Any artists can get a deal, not everyone can keep the deal. All these unsigned artists are like, “I need a deal, I need a deal.” There’s rappers out here with record labels on your favorite rapper’s label. They are still living with their parents. They waitin’ on the labels to do everything for them. Whereas the artists doing everything themselves and getting noticed by himself, he is built to last. He don’t need a co-sign. Doesn’t need a label, he just making a lot of noise.

http://www.dailyillini.com/index.php/article/2012/01/promising_young_rapper_showcases_southside

New Music: Soulja Boy & Young L – Mario & Domo Vs. The World (Mixtape)

Young L, the California born MC and The Pack member with Lil’ B, has linked up with ATLien Soulja Boy for a new mixtape. The eleven track mixtape entitled “Mario & Domo Vs. The World” features production from Young L, F.K.I., and Soulja Boy, which equals to some energentic, fun-having Hip Hop.

These two have been talking about doing work together in the past, but nothing ever developed; finally we get “Mario & Domo Vs. The World”.

http://stupiddope.com/2012/01/25/new-music-soulja-boy-young-l-mario-domo-vs-the-world-mixtape/

Soulja Boy, Young L: 'Mario & Domo Vs. The World' (Mixtape).

I'm not sure how, but this brand-new joint mixtape by Soulja Boy and Young L somehow slipped past us last night. Perhaps it was the fact we were still sort of hung up on Soulja's newly revealed track with Game, "Too Faded," which actually didn't sound that bad. At all. Whatever the case, it looks like some of the tracks on Soulja and Young L's collabo tape, Mario & Domo Vs. The World, have been floating around for a minute. But it's always helpful to have all this material in one place, especially because we get the feeling that 2012 will be the year for Young L. 


http://www.prefixmag.com/media/soulja-boy-young-l/mario-domo-vs-the-world-mixtape/60929/

Soulja Boy ft. Game “Too Faded”.

After getting in the studio recently, Soulja Boy and Game deliver this new song where the two artists get “Too Faded.” Look out for SB’s Promise later this year.

New Videos: Soulja Boy, Bei Maejor, Nipsey Hussle, Fat Joe Feat. Arland

New music video for your viewing pleasure.

Soulja Boy "50/13"

Soulja Boy Soulja Boy - Im A Instruments

http://www.datpiff.com/Soulja-Boy-Soulja-Boy-Im-A-Instruments-mixtape.306829.html

GAME AND SOULJA BOY RECORD COLLABORATION.

Game and Soulja Boy hit the studio last night in LA. To cook up their first-ever collaboration. It’s unknown when it will appear, but both rappers are releasing new albums. Soulja’s fourth LP Promise is due later this year, while Game announced that Soundtrack to Chaos will serve as the follow-up to 2011’s The R.E.D Album.

http://www.rap-up.com/2012/01/20/game-and-soulja-boy-record-collaboration/

DJ Ill Will: Alumni Status.

Over the past few years, the DJ’s role in the distribution of Hip-Hop music has changed drastically. For artists looking to get their music out to the fans, a mixtape DJ is needed to host the project. In some cases, artists acquire as many as 3 or 4 DJs to host their mixtape. Oh, how times have changed. Gone are the traditional days of popping your trunk to build the buzz, right? Nope, not so fast – not according DJ Ill Will and his Alumni Music Group.

Don’t know Ill Will? Well, then we don’t want to know you, because after hosting some of Hip-Hop’s most downloaded mixtapes, Ill Will is at the forefront of online mixtape DJs, and has embedded his footprint on the Los Angeles and online Hip-op scene for years to come.

Always thinking ahead of the curve, DJ Ill Will’s path in the game hasn’t been like typical club or street DJ. After leaving South Bend post-college and making the jump to Los Angeles, Ill Will has been developing his lane online for roughly the past five years, mostly via the Alumni Music Group brand and its flagship artist, Kid Ink, who has 30 million plus views online.

Trust us when we say that your wifey knows a song is a hit record, especially when she hears the “cuff yo chick,” drop on a DJ Ill Will mixtape. But that name brand recognition didn’t just evolve over night. Ill Will credits his early embrace of the more Pop and R&B-sounding Hip-Hop artists in ’07, as the bridge that led to his work with Soulja Boy, Tyga, Ya Boy, Wiz Khalifa, Gudda Gudda, Bow Wow, Jae Millz, Yung Berg, Trey Song, and Drake, to name a few.

Soulja Boy’s ‘50/13’: Little to brag about in this mix tape.

Say what you will of the much-maligned rapper Soulja Boy, but the dude makes hits. Right now, however, he seems to be saving new ones for his coming album, “Promise,” due this year, because they’re nowhere to be found on his new mix tape “50/13.”

The 15-track offering is the rapper’s second mix tape in as many weeks, which gives a clue to its quality. Soulja Boy, who has a strong, protective teenage fan base and the luxury of a major label deal — increasingly a rarity in the rap world — seems to be five to 10 years behind in his approach to making mix tapes. They’re no longer hastily thrown-together promo tools for albums but complete, well-plotted projects in and of themselves. Not that Soulja Boy has ever put out a painstakingly crafted project, through a label or not. The guy has made millions from vapid, dirtied-up pop-rap songs (See “Pretty Boy Swag,” “Turn My Swag On,” “Speakers Going Hammer”).

But “50/13” is devoid of even low-brow delicacies, and it seems to be testing the loyalties of fans who apparently love 21-year-old DeAndre Way unconditionally.

Lately, Soulja Boy has faced criticism that he’s become nothing more than a collage of traits borrowed from a slew of more interesting rappers, and “50/13” supports that argument. Even the project’s art, as the Twitterverse has been pointing out, seems to be a direct rip-off of A$AP Rocky’s “LIVELOVEA$AP” mix tape cover. Soulja lifts Lil Wayne’s Martian gimmick on “Alien,” rhyming about being from outer space, and again on “Work,” where he calls himself a “pretty boy goblin.” And more than a year after his “Pretty Boy Millionaires” project with Lil B, he’s still smitten with the Based God’s off-kilter flow and attempting to mimic it, as on “Grinding.” A funny, bright-ish spot is “Karl Lagerfield,” where Soulja Boy compares himself with legendary Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld (while misspelling the fashion icon’s name) and almost seems to be poking fun at the identity theft allegations he’s faced lately. But perhaps that is giving Soulja Boy too much credit.Say what you will of the much-maligned rapper Soulja Boy, but the dude makes hits. Right now, however, he seems to be saving new ones for his coming album, “Promise,” due this year, because they’re nowhere to be found on his new mix tape “50/13.”

The 15-track offering is the rapper’s second mix tape in as many weeks, which gives a clue to its quality. Soulja Boy, who has a strong, protective teenage fan base and the luxury of a major label deal — increasingly a rarity in the rap world — seems to be five to 10 years behind in his approach to making mix tapes. They’re no longer hastily thrown-together promo tools for albums but complete, well-plotted projects in and of themselves. Not that Soulja Boy has ever put out a painstakingly crafted project, through a label or not. The guy has made millions from vapid, dirtied-up pop-rap songs (See “Pretty Boy Swag,” “Turn My Swag On,” “Speakers Going Hammer”).

But “50/13” is devoid of even low-brow delicacies, and it seems to be testing the loyalties of fans who apparently love 21-year-old DeAndre Way unconditionally.

Lately, Soulja Boy has faced criticism that he’s become nothing more than a collage of traits borrowed from a slew of more interesting rappers, and “50/13” supports that argument. Even the project’s art, as the Twitterverse has been pointing out, seems to be a direct rip-off of A$AP Rocky’s “LIVELOVEA$AP” mix tape cover. Soulja lifts Lil Wayne’s Martian gimmick on “Alien,” rhyming about being from outer space, and again on “Work,” where he calls himself a “pretty boy goblin.” And more than a year after his “Pretty Boy Millionaires” project with Lil B, he’s still smitten with the Based God’s off-kilter flow and attempting to mimic it, as on “Grinding.” A funny, bright-ish spot is “Karl Lagerfield,” where Soulja Boy compares himself with legendary Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld (while misspelling the fashion icon’s name) and almost seems to be poking fun at the identity theft allegations he’s faced lately. But perhaps that is giving Soulja Boy too much credit.

'Angry Boys' Recap: "Episode Five/Episode Six"

This week’s batch of Angry Boys episodes piles on the shallow man boy antics, but offers a glimpse at some genuine emotional depth--or at least as much emotional depth as a show that features a bottle of piss as a central plot device is capable of.

Look, I don’t expect sophisticated drama from a series that tries to successfully pull off black face (except for maybe that one episode of Mad Men),  but “Episode Five” of Angry Boys just felt like a bunch of loosely strung together juvenile gags. Within the opening minutes we have Nathan peeing on Daniel’s head as a prank, S.mouse tweeting about the worrisome dilemma of taking two dumps before 10 AM, and Jen Okazaki pushing her son’s brand of GayStyle perfume, which naturally comes inside a squeeze bottle shaped like a wang. When the episode’s midpoint revolves around Jen’s radical weight loss exercise, the “Fart Method,” I can’t help but feel like I’m hearing the bottom of a barrel being scraped.

The disjointed feel of “Episode Five” has a lot to do with the lack of an actual story. Daniel plots revenge on Nathan – trying to get him to drink the aforementioned bottle of piss – only to have his Machiavellian efforts culminate in his getting peed on for a second time. S.mouse attempts to soldier on with his career after getting dropped from his record label, operating out of an ad hoc recording studio in his dad’s living room, but it’s mostly an excuse to toss out jokes about the rapper’s Soulja Boy-level songwriting abilities. Lyrical topics include big black balls, breast cancer from a male’s perspective –“I still love you, baby, even if you only have one titty,” – and an unhealthy obsession with three-legged dogs.  

The episode’s only interesting thread further documents Jen Okazaki’s mercenary child rearing abilities. Her harsh management of her “gay” son Tim continues to alternate between hilarious and heartbreaking. Hilarious: Jen attempting to prevent her son from committing suicide by encouraging him to jerk off to gay porn. Heartbreaking: Jen tossing Tim’s cell phone down the garbage disposal after she catches him talking to girls. “Tim, you gay. You don’t go getting confused, okay?” she demands, in what has to be the least supportive support of a gay teenager ever. Jen and Tim’s scenes are just as devoid of plot as the rest of the episode, but they’re evidence of what Chris Lilley did best in Summer Heights High. Namely, put teenagers into uncomfortable, emotionally abusive situations. You know, comedy!

“Episode Six” fares a lot better, featuring the welcome return of Gran and getting a lot of thematic mileage out of testicles and the lack thereof. Daniel attempts to play head of the household with his parents on vacation, Blake tries to make money by opening a self-confidence boosting surf camp for fat kids, and Gran tries to get silent new inmate Talib to open up to her and the other juvies. Each story revolves around what it means to step up and be a man, or as Gran eloquently puts it when describing the shy Talib, “You can’t afford to be a pussy and keep to yourself. You got to grow some balls to some extent.”

Daniel naturally fails to live up to his mantle of responsibility, throwing a house party that Nathan ruins by first getting himself stuck inside a bean bag (“He likes the way the balls feel,” Tyson explains) and then in a drain pipe. Blake’s fat kid camp is equally unsuccessful. His well meaning attempts to inspire self-esteem in his overweight wards ends in a spinal injury for one of them after an ill-advised celebratory pile on of a dozen adolescent butterballs. “Do you want me to get the artificial balls operation?” he later asks Kareena, not wanting his “dried apricot” of a ballsac to add to the disappointment he’s already caused her. Only Gran has any real success, managing to get Talib to speak to her, but only after she blows up at him for ruining the carefully crafted misery of her “Scared Straight” program by blithely riding around on a scooter. “Stop being a f*cking idiot and grow some balls,” she scolds him, driving the episode’s theme home with as much subtlety as, well, a punch to the balls.

By episode’s end we have the twins’ mom announcing her engagement to Steve, drudging up some of Daniel’s daddy issues, and Gran getting choked up over hearing Talib speak for the first time after she apologizes to him. The developments indicate there’s a genuine heart beneath all the dick jokes, if for no reason other than the swelling emotional music that accompanies each scene. But when Blake’s plot ends with a bed breaking beneath a fat kid’s weight, it’s a reminder that the show is still letting easy jokes get in the way of its more uniquely offbeat and resonant moments.

http://www.ology.com/tv/angry-boys-recap-episode-fiveepisode-six/01162012

Soulja Boy: A Day In The Life (Episode 11)

Episode 11

ATF Investigates Soulja Boy Over Drug & Gun Allegations

Rapper Soulja Boy is under investigation by officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in relation to his drug and gun arrest in October.
 
The hitmaker, real name DeAndre Cortez Way, was taken into custody with four associates after their car was pulled over by police in Temple, Georgia for a traffic violation. Cops reportedly found more than five ounces of marijuana, thousands of dollars of cash and multiple guns in the vehicle.
 
Driver Gregory Latimore and the three other men were subsequently slapped with three counts for felony possession of marijuana, possession with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
 
The hip-hop star was not charged over the incident, but he could still find himself in trouble - the case has been handed over to ATF investigators.
 
Temple Police Chief Tim Shaw has confirmed to local media outlets that his officers have turned over all evidence involving the star to the officials.

Mixtape: Soulja Boy – 50/13

Soulja Boy releases a new mixtape callded ’50/13′ before his fourth studio album Promise is released.

 More Here