MrCrookedLetter
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Kendrick Lamar - "Overly Dedicated”
Release Date: September 14, 2010
Kendrick Lamar was still a young emcee getting his bearings around 2010, but Overly Dedicated was his breakout moment for a couple of reasons. One, it was his last mixtape before TDE would independently drop Section.80 and the two year waits would begin as he would move from one amazing concept album to the next. Two, he found his voice here, and began to lay the ideas for what would become “signature” Kendrick Lamar. Three, he’d always exhibited protean talents, but he began to gel on Overly Dedicated, beginning to rhyme in the multiplicative styles and voices he’d become known for. A style that was both straightforward and breathlessly complex. And speaking of breathless, “The Heart Pt. 2” would move us into a different space, bringing voice to The Roots absolutely beautiful “The Light” as Kendrick seemed to be brought to tears by exactly how badly he wanted to explain the words buried in his mind.
Frank Ocean - “Nostalgia Ultra”
Release Date: February 11, 2011
Just before The Weeknd would drop his opus to booze, women and ill will, Frank Ocean would drop the beautifully rendered Nostalgia Ultra. It was a true mixtape, as he lent his delicate tenor to other people’s beats for a few, terraforming them into water droplets of dense, sweet rhythm and blues. He’d also have a few originals on there, and his rehashing of what it meant to be numb, “Novacane,” shot him clear into the alt R&B stratosphere. The entire tape was incredible however, as it took on the different kind of hazy angst plaguing the young at the time and, well, plagues them still.
A$AP Rocky - "Live.Love.A$AP”
Release Date: October 31, 2011
A$AP Rocky’s “Purple Swag” has about 32 million Youtube views right now, and everyone can tell you where they were when they saw that young white girl with the grill mouth the lyrics to some new fusion of H-town lean and New York swag. At the time it was like a new door opened in New York Hip Hop, and the A$AP crew spilled out into the blogosphere. “Peso” followed closely behind, and the hype was approaching a straight up fever. How many members were there? Some estimates had it at over 30, but the undeniable leaders were Yam$, Rocky, Ferg, Bari and Ant. The mixtape dropped to ridiculous hype next, and when A$AP proved that he could actually rap his career trajectory was cemented. Since, he’s gone on to be a cultural mainstay, bringing fashion and cool-kid-rap together in a different way than Kanye and Pharrell before him.
J. Cole - "Friday Night Lights”
Release Date: November 12, 2010
J. Cole was one mixtape into his time at Jay Z’s fairly new Roc Nation. Tracks like “Lights Please” proved he was more than capable of making music that remained fairly rooted in Hip Hop but went just pop enough. Going for the gold, he dropped Friday Night Lights a year later and managed to top his own previous work with cuts including “In The Morning” featuring Drake (eventually featured on his debut Cole World: The Sideline Story) and “Villematic.” Though many doubted, Friday Night Lights proved exactly why Hov took Jermaine under his wing. And more than his ability to put syllables together was Cole’s message and his way of being. The man’s amassed a cult following, with everything he does being laced with a kind of authenticity rarely found in Hip Hop nowadays.
