Just before the holidays, Julius Myth returns with a mixtape titled ‘TV Dinners’. It’s the fourth mixtape for the New Yorkian super-linguist. After being pleasantly surprised by his last mixtape ‘Day Of The Deadbeats’, I think this new mixtape deserves a proper listen..
[youtube width=”400″ height=”200″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9jGTB3FquE[/youtube]
Years Lata
This is the kind of Hip Hop you’re in for: The mixtape is fully produced by NYC-based Years Lata. And Myth’s producer has a classic approach when it comes to producing Hip Hop: Nas, Big L, DJ Premier, J Dilla and The Alchemist are some of his main influences.
So in true tradition there’s a lot of sampling going on. (And if you’ve seen the video above, you might have heard correctly. There has never ever been as much sleigh bell samples on a proper Hip Hop mixtape as on ‘TV Dinners’.) I’m guessing most of the productions are entirely sample-based, without adding too much MIDI-based action (Such as Korgs, Moogs, etc.).
Melodic
Still, there’s a lot of tunefulness in Years Lata’s work. Which is perfect for Myth’s style of rapping. At the risk of being completely wrong: his flow sounds a bit like Kid Cudi. Modest, intelligent and very melodic. Julius Myth is both a clever writer and a talented, mature rapper. On top of that, the producer treats the vocals perfectly. Sometimes layered and in full stereo, sometimes just one vocal track centered in the middle. On the other end, the rapper works creatively with vocal samples injected by the producer. Just listen to the track ‘Rainbows’ below.
And I think this is what makes ‘TV Diners’ work. Creative rapper meets skilled producer. The two Werfmor signees Operate like left foot, right foot. Or to stick with the terms: Killer combo, like TV and dinner. Here are some of the tracks from the mixtape:
Life Has Changed
The second track on the mixtape is titled ‘Life Has Changed’ and is a pretty good example of how melodic Julius Myth can be. 48 seconds in the track is the first time on ‘TV Dinners’you can hear the linguist’s hallmark: He perfectly knows his way in the grey area between rapping and singing.
Rainbows
In ‘Rainbows’ the producer is playing around with vocal samples. It sounds like Years Lata used a pitched up vocal cut from Louis Armstrong (‘Somewhere over the rainbow’?) but I could be wrong. Perfect combination of rapping and sampling.
Smoke pt. 2
The Anthem. The catchiest track on the mixtape is about one of the biggest cliches in Hip Hop: the smoke. For an Amsterdam-based blog, we really don’t smoke that much at all. But we can relate to this track, which could be an anthem for any young tourist visiting Holland.
In a nutshell: Talented rapper and producer make incredibly credible Hip Hop. Download the mixtape, and give it a few plays. Tracks will grow on you, as the mixtape has a high replay value. It’s the only reason you should still be listening to sleigh bells in the months to follow.
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