If
you've seen one mixtape you've seen them all. There's a mixtape for
every new artist who thinks he or she is the shit. There's a mixtape for
every artist who is between albums and wants to hype you up for their
next release. There's a mixtape for artists who are betweens label who
are trying to get some buzz and a new deal. The funniest thing about all
of this shit is that we still call them "mixtapes" even though these
days most of them are coming out online and dont involve any mixing or
cassette tapes.
Needless
to say I was skeptical of DJ Aaron LaCrate's claim that he was "Dope on
the Tables." How many times have I seen or heard it before? What can
Aaron LaCrate do that hasn't been done before? Nothing really. Then
again just because every word in the english language has been used a
million times doesn't stop people from finding new ways to combine them
from fresh raps to full length novels. So to be clear at the start the
concept of LaCrate's "Dope on the Tables" is that it's his own personal
"old school" mix complete with double-ups, beat blends, and the
occasional (but for a mixtape DJ not too excessive) self-recognizing
drops.
LaCrate
impressed me right off the bat though by blending an acapella of
Wu-Tang Clan's "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" with Eric B. & Rakim's
instrumetanl for "Juice." Either song is dope on it's own, but LaCrate
matched the BPM's up sweet and created a monster out of the two.
Finishing the song off by going back to Rakim's original vocals and then
gradually merging it into Big Daddy Kane's live "Wrath of Kane"
definitely set the proper tone. I was convinced that LaCrate was not
only smart with his song selection but serious about his mixtape craft.
I'm
not going to sell you on LaCrate as the greatest thing since sliced
bread though. As a matter of fact there are so many mixtapes coming out
these days (seems like a dozen a week) that it's possible there are
three things doper than "Dope on the Tables" that came out this week I
don't even know shit about. But still I gotta give LaCrate props for
doing his thang with style and cojones. Yes it takes cojones to
put a pop rapper like Young MC and a militant hip-hop activist like
Professor X back to back in a mix, but the two exist in a state of
vangloriousness together in this selector's milk crates.
If you're
around my age this album will remind you of the music you grew up with
that made you fall in love with hip-hop in the first place. Schoolly D's
"Saturday Night,"
Chubb Rock's "Ya Bad Chubbs," Kool G. Rap's "Erase Racism" and MC
Breed's "Ain't No Future in Ya Frontin'" are just a few of the many
choice songs in the rotation. These days it's hard to find any mixtape
worth listening to from start to finish without skipping over tracks,
but "Dope on the Tables" takes me back to the days when the only people
running shit were Kid Capri and Ron G. Look for this one.
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