T.I.
Ready Set Go (Ft. Killer Mike)

This new T.I. mixtape is really, dumbfoundingly great. Killer Mike’s intro verse is not very good, but his style rides the beat more pleasantly than most things I hear these days. And the beat: What the frick is its deal? It’s really good!

The skits on the mixtape all play on its name: Fuck a mixtape. Why the fuck a mixtape? These interstitial bits give the record a little propulsiveness and pseudo-narrative cohesion. But really, they just add up to about 5 minutes you’ll never get back into your life. The rest of the record is just really solid, funtime music. The beats sound fresh, T.I.’s got his dumbass swagger. I can’t recall listening to a new rap release that I’ve enjoyed as much as this one.

The release is also interesting due to its—new to me, not necessarily to you—conceit that you have to “Earn the barcode,” ie, create a decent enough album to charge people for. This release is just meant to be a fun exercise in musicianship. And it is. It’s funny that mixtapes blew up with the blog scene, since they share the same formal cause. And when Pitchfork—a profesh review site reviewing profesh releases—popularized mixtapes for the indie kids, they gained this serious patina. But they’re not. Clipse, Wayne, and Gucci Mane’s mixtapes got more credit than their records. The mixtapes earned their barcodes, like a blog-to-book. But still, you get what you pay for. Good mixtapes, good blogs—they’re nice surprises, though.