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It can be tough getting heard when you’re not in a marquee Hip-Hop city. If you’re not from New York or LA, or more recently, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, or Houston, it’s just that much harder to break through the glass ceiling your geography may provide. 

This task is even tougher when you are coming out of Las Vegas, a city known in Hip-Hop only for the murder of the one and only Tupac Shakur. Sedrew Price hopes to break through this barrier with his latest effort, Rap Or Die 1.5.  The mixtape isn’t the opus required to break a city through on its own, but, within lies some gems worth checking out.

What first draws you in isn’t the West Coast vibes, but the Southern inspiration he draws from. Beats representing some of the recent, like “Ima Do Me” ( Rocko’s “Ima Do Me”), to underground “Dreams” ( Little Brother’s “Dreams”), to timeless favorites “ I’m the F**kin Man” ( T.I’s “Rubberband Man”), can be found repping the bottom of the map. 

From the selection, it is more than obvious that he took his time, picking beats that he loves, instead of the industry standards found on every mixtape from the cream of the crop to your neighborhood “truth in the booth”.

It is rare for anything to be without defect, and Rap Or Die 1.5 is by no means flawless. The largest of these flaws appears on “Shottas”. He has a tendency to project a sense of laziness between songs, usually along the second verse. He finishes the song strong, but that exact blemish makes itself known throughout the mixtape, as a weak verse somehow works its way into a few tracks (“ It’s A Celebration Bitches”, ”No Drama”, “We Go Hard”).

Las Vegas may have found a talent in Sedrew Price. Even with its defects, Rap Or Die 1.5 accomplishes the task of getting to know him through the music, giving a great introduction for those who haven’t had a chance to hear him. With this much effort put into a mixtape, one can only wonder what his debut endeavor may provide. It may not be such a gamble to bet on the kid.