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What’s good people? Welcome back to another edition of Tale Of The Tape. It’s another week, and with that, another group of mixtapes for you to love, hate, or ignore like a new AZ album. 

And there is plenty to ignore, word to Tony Yayo’s Black Friday. Sandman smacks the world with his delusion of grandeur on The #1 Suppliya. Serious Jones actually surprises with Serius Bizness. Common does have good music coming out this week on S.T.O.R.Y. (Stories Told Over Remixed Years). To round out the five is Colin Monroe, who tries to get you to believe he is the Unsung Hero. Let’s get it.

Tony Yayo

Black Friday

One & Done

I hate boring rappers. I know I just said this about Sheek last week, but let me reiterate this for you. Tony Yayo couldn’t stand out at Jimmy Henchman’s family reunion and that’s rather tough. Maybe that’s why he called it Black Friday. Maybe he meant he would be invisible in the background while 50 Cent steals the show with two songs (“Get Up”, “50 For President”). Either way, you won’t remember this just like you didn’t remember his last mixtape.

Sandman

The #1 Suppliya

One & Done

Dear Sandman,

What up man, I wanted to talk. When listening to you in tandem with The Clipse, it sounded like hot fire. But this The #1 Suppliya tape you just put out made me, along with others, realize you’re probably best in small spurts, instead of across one mixtape. Roscoe P murders you on your own track (“City Wide“). While some things are interesting (“The Rain”), if you were The #1 Suppliya, Hip-Hop would truly be in a serious drought.

Concerned,

The Honorable Adam Thomas

Serius Jones

Serius Bizness

Peep It

The only way you heard of Serius Jones is if you saw him battle rappers on grainy “street” DVDs. That’s why when DTP signed him; I thought Luda was losing it. We all know that battle rappers only do triple wood. Think of a modern battle rapper that had success? I’ll wait. Here are two aspirins for that headache chief.

Anyway, after the deal being dropped like a dead microphone, Serius Jones actually dropped some listenable songs (“J-One-S”, “I Smell A Rat”) with Serius Bizness. If he keeps this up, he might just get the attention of people who buy albums.

CommonS.T.O.R.Y. (Stories Told Over Remixed Years) Heavy Rotation

Man. If there is an artist that cannot throw three strikeouts in a row, it’s Common. Did he really just make some sort of party Hip-Hop album that comes off more hit and miss than a sniper with tourettes? Universal Mind Control criticism aside, for those who want to take it back to when he had Sense, and the period when Kanye was mixing behind the boards, take a look at S.T.O.R.Y.  K-Salaam & Beatnick do their thing (“The 6th Sense” & “The Light ’09”). When you’re tired of that new ish, let this remind you why you go to his shows.

Colin Monroe

The Unsung Hero

Heavy Rotation

Sometimes you just need something new. Colin Monroe provides that with The Unsung Hero, which features work from popular new jacks Wale (“Will I Stay”) and Drake (“Cannonball”) for those who need some sort of name to listen. For those who have an ear for the eclectic, this is a tape that features Hip-Hop (“Brick In The Wall”), R&B (“Last Cause”) and a dash of Bob Dylan (“Who Killed Davey Moore”). It melds quite well, take a chance on the kid.

Tale Of The Tape

Tale Of The Tape 12.10.08