Shout out to Lust and his peoples for holding him down while he's on extended vacation. For those that are late to the party the mixtape theme of "exclusive" is muerte. Now it's a bunch of DJs racing to play the same tracks that get email "blasted" or "leaked" on the internet first. Cats are still using the DJ Clue mixtape model...you see where Clue is at mixtape wise with his two latest releases. Time to switch the formula...ya think? The new "exclusive" is how well your relationships are with up and coming artist...that's where your new "exclusives" are people...then you sprinkle in the hottest mainstream joints to complete the mixtape matrix. Lust gets it and you would think these "drop a tape week" DJs would too but cats would rather hustle in the same spot with garbage work and call it "grinding". 2007 is the "make you or break you" mixtape year...lets see who can stand the rain.

If you know Lust you know he's gonna have new Ransom. "Time" is cool, I'm not even mad he got Nicole Wray singing cause the rhyme is all Ransom to the core...no fluff for even the R&B. I'm not mad at 50 Cent for "Amusement Park", he knows who his actual "record buying public" is and he makes music for them too. He comes back with "Fully Loaded Clip", while he does def have some borrowed lines in here its classic 50 Cent with an even more classic hook. Finally...Hell Rell sounds like the Hell Rell of old on "It's Over Part 2". It's all in the beat and well Dipset beats of late have been clock radio speaker material. A-Mafia doing his thing on this as usual too painting that picture. While we're talking beats, "The Hardest" was a little bland to me. How does that beat represent "The Hardest"? You get AZ and Styles P on a track title it the "The Hardest" and use a beat thats on some smooth shit? Whoever put this together need to get fired or demoted to permanent weed carrier/errand boy. Tell me Joell Ortiz didn't have the hook of the year: "I wake up hip hop / go to sleep hip hop / dream about hip hop / cause I am hip hop." That "Hip Hop" remix is the best song out of NYC this year. The best part of the CD, to me anyway was from the "Hip Hop Remix" until "9MM". That Nucci Reyo joint, "Tonight's The Night" is classic mixtape music, Mike Lowery and Stack Bundles on "On Da Edge" is some do dirt theme music, Byno's hit "Lullaby" is still slept on but still sounds great in the whip. "BK Madness" got Reck and Laz trading verses like grizzled vets who still carry switch blades on the low. I fuck with Daytona's music but "Flyer" with the whisper flow was ehhh and I could say the same for S-One. Dude got skills and he rhyme was tight but over that old ass "Dear Summer" beat wasn't cutting it for me. The sleeper track is Magic B on "Crunch Time"...dude went in on this one when he pulled out that "Prefontaine" line.

This is that DJ Lust sound right here cats cop his CDs for. The "core" of the mixtape is that shit that holds your ear. It's got some filler as do even some of today’s better mixtapes which is just do to the quality of the music being put out. Cats tightened up the screws on the "Lust" formula and turned out another quality project for the "good music" heads everywhere. (5/24/07)