Music Review: Master P & Money Mafia “Hustlin”

Music Review: Master P & Money Mafia “Hustlin”

“Bout it, bout it!” “Uuuggghhh!!!” “You heard me?” You know the voice just soon as you hear his outspoken bayou drawl and Calio Third Ward project lingo. And with good reason. Master P is motive behind the survival of so many Southern-based independent rap record labels going back to the 90s.

Master P is the reason why rappers could look major label distributors square in the face and ask for million-dollar deals better than what Ray Charles got. Master P was the one-man marketing team that showed rappers not only the business of rap but how to become businesses themselves.

From serving “ice cream” on the block to mansions with yachts and million-dollar stocks, Percy “Master P” Miller is a hustler to his bone gristle. And his latest mixtape with crew Money Mafia describes what the Colonel does best: Hustlin. With a bevy of bumping, bass-heavy beats, No Limit’s guaranteed ghetto grit and more tracks than your favorite rapper’s entire album, Master P gives a reminder to how he turned a small record shop into a dynasty in Southern hip-hop.

 

On the R&B-tinged first track “U Ain’t Gotta,” P sets it off smooth in this mid-tempo serenade to the perfect mob princess. But he ain’t in his feelings for long. The very next track “Turn My Life Around” is the hustler’s ambition of making nothing into something over a ballerific blend of piano chords sprinkled across slapping snares and hard-hitting cymbal crashes.

And on “Talk to My Drum,” P shows that just because he’s HNIC, that still doesn’t mean he’s afraid to get his hands dirty. Atop acoustic guitar riffs and driving 808s competing with ricocheting rim shots, P moans:

You think it’s sweet ‘round here/ Make you talk to my drum/ I ain’t in the band/ But I carry a drum.

Yesterday Apr 30, 2015 T.E.C. native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana one of the hottest young MC’s out and front man on the Money Mafia was released from prison. Fan’s have been waiting the arrival of the young superstar but today he is a changed man ready to get back in the studio and crank out the hits and is a great timing to celebrate the success of the Money Mafia mixtape.

P and the No Limit posse put weak ones in their places as they flip an interpolation of Whodini’s 1980 Golden Era classic “I’m a Hoe” on the super slick “You a Hoe Boy.” Other standout cuts are the politically charged “Freedom of Speech,” “Nobody Else” and the dramatic, heart-pumping “Yeah Actin Bad.” Overall this is nothing short of what we came to expect from Mr. Miller. From beginning to end, this is another stellar installment to the legacy of No Limit.

Overall: 8.5/10