Mixed Drinks & Mixed Tapes: Drake, Mod Sun, Wale & Plies

Okay, let’s do this. I’m going to a Dipset concert tomorrow night, which by the time you read this will have already happened. But if you really care, I’ll go ahead and write my review: Cam’ron, was cool, Juelz Santana was cool, Jim Jones said “Ballin’!” a lot, people smoked weed and Freeky Zeeky came out wearing a bathrobe (Dipset fact: this is all Freeky Zeeky gets to do during Dipset concerts, because even Cam’ron understands that Freeky is terrible). Let’s tape it up!

Drake — Drake Griffin

Did you hear that Pusha T dissed Drake? It’s stupid and kind of cowardly that Pusha didn’t actually mention everyone’s favorite former DeGrassi actor by name, but he called out Drake’s many sweaters, so I guess that’s good enough. Anyways, Drake Griffin isn’t actually an official Drake tape, but it might as well be.

This is basically a collection of every single song Drake has appeared on in any capacity in 2011, and, well, have you seen his shit-eating grin on the cover of this? Drake is hilarious. He is Details Magazine incarnate, a beta male of the highest order—on one song here, Drake actually brags about how he doesn’t care if his girl gets with other girls. You see Hell Rell up in here pulling that shit? Naw, doggie. Not at all. Still, there’s something oddly compelling about Drake: he’s not a particularly good rapper, he has a pretty non-hood affinity for sweaters, and he’s Canadian, yet raps in a fake Southern accent. And yet the drake presented on Drake Griffin is the most diverse, riveting rapper of the year, equally at home over the British post-everything of SBTRKT as he is rapping on the remix to Waka Flocka’s “Round of Applause”. What helps Drake carry the day every single time is his unparalleled ability as a rap songwriter. Yes, there are a thousand ways to say you’ve boned a stripper. At this point, nobody cares how clever you are about saying it. However, Drake’s the only rapper who’s ever thought to mention that he knows a stripper’s real name.

Since I figured a rapper like Drake always wants to make people happy (Even the strippers. Especially the strippers.), I posted the question of what Drake’s favorite drink was on Yahoo Answers to see what I got. I’ll let you visit it at your own risk.

Download: Drake – Drake Griffin [Dat Piff]

Stream the hottest joint, “Wildfire” (Remix of SBTRKT), below.

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Mod Sun — Blazed By The Bell

Immediately after pressing play on this mixtape, I regretted downloading it. Mod Sun is a self-proclaimed “hip-hop hippie,” aka he is a normal rapper who raps mostly about nothing and/or how much he likes to get fucked up all of the time, but instead of sometimes rapping about violence, Mod Sun makes occasional overtures as an ill-defined sense of “positivity.” In practical application, this means mostly nothing. This guy looks like The Dude if he rapped. I was on datpiff and saw this mixtape and figured, “Why not? Hosted by DJ Ill Will? Hey, he’s my wifey’s favorite DJ! Maybe Mod Sun won’t suck?” Oh MAN, I was wrong. If there were ever a cornier rapper to exist, I would probably cry. Mod Sun ACTUALLY raps, “Today is a gift. That’s why I call it the present,” on one song, and then spends an entire different song rapping about his favorite music festivals. That’s not even taking into consideration when he raps over that one stupid Edward Sharpe song. Jesus Christ. Forget Drake. Why hasn’t anybody dissed this guy?

Anyway, Mod Sun is basically Asher Roth 2.0, but with an upgraded flow that he can kick into fast-rapping, sort of like Yelawolf (Yelaroth? Rothwolf?). He’s not a bad rapper, per se, he’s just really gimmicky and looks like he’s going to have the shelf life of a carton of milk. He’s annoying vapid, and my experience with this mixtape is going to officially prevent me from ever downloading a tape cold off datpiff ever again, Nipsey Hussle guest verse be damned (in fact, maybe it should have been the Nipsey Hussle guest verse that turned me off of this entire endeavor). Drink nothing with this. Because you will not listen to this. None of these songs were even remotely good.

Download: Mod Sun – Blazed By The Bell [Dat Piff]

Do not stream the hottest joint from this tape below, because “the hottest joint from a Mod Sun mixtape” is an oxymoron.

Wale — The Eleven One Eleven Theory

Okay, Wale, we get it. After a year of being signed to Rick Ross’s label, he’ll finally be putting a solo album out on November first, through his affiliation with Rick Ross’s Maybach Music label. I hope you’re proud of all those Outback Steakhouse runs you made with Meek Mill riding shotgun, Wale. You should be. Anyways, this tape is his beyond heavy-handed teaser for his upcoming album, and listening to this makes me feel beyond-awkward inside, remember that time I heard Wale’s Mixtape About Nothing and actually enjoyed listening to Wale, enough to actually Stan on his incredibullshity Attention: Deficit album. Those of you who went out and bought ten copies of the J. Cole album this weekend, you’ll know what I’m talking about in three years.

Anyway, now that he’s the guy Rick Ross sends to the store for gorilla glue whenever the sole on his Air Yeezys separates from the rest of the shoe, Wale and his cadre of dumb sports references seems intent on occupying a space that splits the perfect middle between a Black Thought who was really into shoes (old Wale) and Rick Ross, Jr. But here’s the trick. Wale can’t be Rick Ross, Jr., because no one can, because Rick Ross is the boss, and only he can pull off the ridiculous shit he says and sound sort of like he means it. Everybody else sounds like they’re trying to rip Rick Ross off. Shame on you, Wale. Still, taken in bite-sized chunks, this tape has its rewards—Wale has great taste in production, and he’s a skillful enough rapper to slip on the guise of the conscious hero, the playboy, or the swag king, and play the role serviceably. However, on the same tape, that tends to get messy.

The only person who can pull that kind of multiplicity off is Kanye West, or, well, the Long Island Iced Tea, with its signature mix of dark liquor (the dark magic that is Rick Ross weed carrier Wale), white liquor (the light magic that is “Save-The-Babies” Wale), and a splash of coke (the cocaine that Rick Ross probably makes Wale snort in order to have the energy to take dictation for Ross’s impossibly long letters to DJ Khaled). And, just like a Long Island Iced Tea, there are some parts of this mixtape that are gross.

Download: Wale – The Eleven One Eleven Theory [Dat Piff]

Stream the hottest joint, “Barry Sanders”, below.

Plies — Aristotle

Who would have thought that out of the four mixtapes I reviewed this week that Plies would end up creating by far the most quality one? There’s an important thing to remember about Plies, however: before he was the most unlikely pop-rap loverman this side of the Notorious B.I.G., Plies was the original goon, made more powerful because unlike his contemporaries Waka Flocka and Gunplay, he wasn’t tethered to a boss of some sort. Plies was his own goon. The master of his domain, if you will. His mixtapes have consistently featured some of the best angrycore rap this side of Mystikal, and of any mixtape this year, Aristotle might be one that you listen to more than three times in its entirety. It feels like an album, like Plies actually considered stuff like tracklisting, length, and thematic continuity—something most rap albums these days lack.

Of course, Plies still makes his money off his “for the ladies” tracks (“Becky”, anyone?), so it would be remiss to expect nothing less than “Fuck The Shit Out Of You”, which at least does us the service of eschewing the entry-level innuendo of “Becky”. Regardless, if you’re looking for hard-hitting, straight-faced gangsterism, you could do a hell of a lot worse than Aristotle. I don’t own a car anymore (shouts out to my parents putting my Volvo for sale in the local paper!), but judging from how this sounds in my headphones, I’m certain it must sound great coming from a proper sound system. Drink a whiskey and water with Aristotle, mainly because that’s what I’m drinking right now. Swag. We out chea.

Download: Plies – Aristotle [Dat Piff]

Stream the hottest joint, “Da Muscle”, below.