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Lil B - Call Of Duty Task Force [ Mixtape ] [ Full ] 2022

My friends and I started a group called Lost Connexion. We released our first single "REAPER" on the 21st. It's a poppy number with a fast drum beat, some MIDI guitar parts, some synthesizers, some autotune, all kinds of good stuff. At least I think so.

If you're into stuff like Beck, Rat Boy, Beastie Boys, etc. you will dig this. I mean, we don't sound like any of those artists, but that's the vibe here. We're trying to blend rap with other genres without being garishly distasteful, which is a finer line than you might think.

I hope you enjoy this new single. I'll put a link at the bottom of this post. We've got an album coming out in the new year called "Dangerous Nights" that I think is going to be a very fun affair.

Check out REAPER anywhere you find music:

Why does this dude have such a massive blindspot when it comes to trap and street rap?

Just take a look at his new top 50 albums list. Not one trap or drill album. Not a single one. Are you fucked in the head? How are you gonna call yourself "the internet's busiest music nerd" when you don't even acknowledge the existence of the biggest rap subgenre in the world currently.

Imagine leaving Babyface Ray, Icewear Vezzo, BabyTron, Quavo & Takeoff, Duvy, Lucki, iayze etc. off of your end of the year list in favour of some generic, derivative garbage like The Forever Story. Just try and imagine that. Try and imagine having that bad of taste while also calling yourself "the internet's busiest music nerd."

The bald man seems like a nice guy but he needs to learn to listen to music properly. You're supposed to be this bigtime music critic right? So why you still listen to music like a fan then?

The thing that drives me nuts about Fantano is the simple fact that he tries to cover pretty much all music in the popular and indie spheres. There's a reason that reporters and critics have "beats" or specific areas of expertise that they cover. Pitchfork wouldn't send Al Pierre to review a Carly Rae Jepsen record. They know that's not his wheelhouse. They'll get Dylan Green or some other poptimist sycophant to do that kind of bidding. So why is Fantano reviewing shit that he doesn't like, is never going to like, and doesn't understand? That's not to say critics shouldn't give negative reviews. That would be ridiculous. I'm saying that a critic should not speak on music that they don't understand, and based on Fantano referring to Chief Keef's "Finally Rich" as "ridiculous novelty" (as well as his general ignorance on street rap), I think it's fair to say that he has no understanding of it. A 16 year old kid recounting all the murder, addiction, and destruction he's seen in his life is "ridiculous novelty" to you? Come the fuck on, bald man.

Remember when this dude was sucking off Brockhampton being all buddy buddy with them? That shit was unbelievable. What kind of self respecting music critic would ever make friends with an artist? There is a very necessary division between critic and artist and you can't just go around playing jump rope with it. Lester Bangs didn't start kissing up to Lou Reed when he interviewed him, despite Reed being Bangs' idol. No. He did the exact opposite. He called Lou Reed a bitch to his face and said his music sucks now and he should give it up. That's a real critic.

This guy needs to realize that traditional albums have never been a good way to consume rap music. Sure, you get an Illmatic or a Butterfly every now and then, but for the most part rap is a singles genre, and rappers' attempts to create albums in the rock & roll tradition (ten to fifteen songs, cohesive, with a curated tracklist and reflective cover art) is always annoying. It rarely ever works out. That's why J. Cole sucks so bad on albums but on features he's pretty good. Because when he's on a feature or a single he's just rapping. He's not concerned with making some great cohesive rap album, he's just spitting bars.

Idk. I love albums. I hate them in the context of rap sometimes. I "hate" them for the same reason that I hate when rappers perform with a live band. This is Hip Hop. It's not rock music. We don't need to conform the genre to the popular standards of music, because none of this was ever about that. The whole thing I fell in love with about rap, besides the music itself, is that it existed in stark contrast to and firm defiance of established musical norms. Rappers didn't try and be popstars. If one became a popstar, like Em or Wayne or Hov, it was almost always in spite of them being a rapper, not because of it. And I loved that. I mean, it's great that rap is popular now, but also it's terrible at the same time. I'm glad more people are being exposed to it, but also I wish that they would please just leave us alone and stop trying to make this genre into something it's not.

By Francis Porter

Very few names can conjure images of a time and place on mere mention alone, but Dayton Church happens to be one of them. The 27-year-old California rapper, once a member of the notorious Odd Future Wolf Gang, has been a mainstay of the West Coast hip hop scene for close to twenty years now, but it is his work with the eclectic rap collective that brought him to the place he is now.

Many casual fans of Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt may be wondering "Who the hell is Dayton Church? I don't remember him being in Odd Future." But the real heads know. The real heads remember Dayton Church.

Dayton was nice enough to speak with us about his upcoming album, his previous work with Odd Future, and what it means to be a West Coast rapper in 2022.

Quavo & Takeoff - Hotel Lobby

Duvy - Rich Off Drugs

Drake - Sticky

iayze - 556 (Green Tip)

Earl Sweatshirt - Titanic

Lil Yachty - Poland

Kendrick Lamar - United in Grief

KANKAN - GTA

ZahSossa & DSturdy - Shake Dhat

BROCKHAMPTON - RZA

Why G - Alot

Lucki (ft. Future) - KAPITOL DENIM

2Rare & Lil Durk - Q-Pid

Lil Uzi Vert - CIGARETTE

Homixide Gang - Lifestyle

Kanye West - Someday We’ll All Be Free

Rx Papi - Kiss the Ring (First Day Out)

Gucci Mane (ft. Lil Durk) - Rumours

Ab-Soul - NO REPORT CARD

Glorilla - F.N.F.

Metro Boomin - Heroes & Villains (Short Film)

This is a better superhero film than anything Marvel or DC have put out in like a decade

can u turn off the light

A FILM BY LOST CONNEXTION

By Rivers The Poet

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what I expected.

Since it's inception, Rolling Loud has been very hard for me to pin down, both conceptually and morally (stay with me, we'll get to this). On one hand, it's a celebration of rap music. An entire weekend dedicated to the most beautiful thing humanity has ever created: hip hop. On the other hand, it always appeared to me as more of a large-scale extension of the exploitation and voyeurism that plagues so much of the audience-artist relationship in modern rap music.

The reality is much more boring. For the most part, Rolling Loud Toronto was just poorly planned. I could sit here and list all the logistical problems that went down throughout the weekend, from faulty bridges to failing POS systems to near constant lineup changes, but I would be here all day. Besides, the biggest problem wasn't any of that. It was the rappers.

I'm virulently opposed to pretty much all of the popular critiques of rap music. I always make an effort to defend the music and culture that I love so much, and I would never want to add to any negative misconceptions that ignorant people might have about This Thing of Ours. That's why it pains me to write this next part. I hate to do it, but I have to tell the truth: so many of these guys can not rap.

It's such a weird critique to have to make in 2022. That people 'can't rap'. You'd think that by now, fifty years into the genre, anyone with a modicum of interest in being a rap artist would spend time and energy on being good at the actual craft of rapping. Not lyrics, but rapping. Breath control, voice control. You'd think that it would be impossible to obtain any level of success without having a grasp on those very basic tenets of emceeing. But this is not the case.

Instead, what you will see at an event such as Rolling Loud Toronto, are rappers with no breath control. Rappers who have clearly never rapped without punching in. Rappers who have no stage presence. And worst of all, rappers who don't give a shit about rapping.

I'm going to name names because this shit is unacceptable.

NLE Choppa: Telling people to open the pit and jumping around in one spot doesn't count as stage presence, and screaming until your voice is hoarse doesn't count as emceeing.

Destroy Lonely: I like your music but write a different song man. Literally just make a different type of song one time. Try it out. See what happens. And also learn to rap you backing-track-using cornball.

Tory Lanez: I hate to disrespect the king of Peel Region himself, but I witnessed this dude stand on stage for entire verses at times, not rapping a single word and just letting the track play. What the fuck are we here watching you for? Are you an emcee or a DJ my guy? Jeez Louise.

Smiley: This lovable guy actually had one of my favourite sets of the weekend, in spite of his complete lack of breath control. I give him a pass though. He's a big man and he's new. Give him some time. He was trying at least.

Outside of the performance issues, there was the moral issue I spoke about in the beginning. My whole opinion on this matter is a mess of contradictions, so bear with me, but the simplest way I can put it is this: As a fan of trap, drill, and street oriented rap music, I feel an incredible disgust in the way we consume music from these artists. People with no involvement or stake in gang politics will gleefully sing along to lyrics about actual dead people, people who were killed. They will turn up and party to music about death, addiction, and tragedy. Everyone who sang and danced along to Pressa while he rapped with flippant disregard about the murders of Sizzlac and Sluggah is culpable in this exploitation, myself included. But what are people supposed to do? When the beat is thumping through your entire body and the guy on stage is telling you that this is a cool thing you should aspire to do, it can be hard not to just rock with it. It's an uncomfortable question that I don't have the answer to.

Speaking of Pressa, his set was excellent, morality aside. His presence on stage was magnetic, as he played classics like Wass Gang, Canada Goose, and She So Pretty, as well as newer hits like Attachments and Second Hand Smoke. He brought out The Wassas, who assisted in running through a litany of Toronto party staples. The whole crew was on fire and had the crowd in the palm of their hands.

A thing I really want to talk about is a guy named Drownmili, who played Saturday at the Uber Stage. I was standing over on the grass smoking when I saw this guy come out with a guitar player and a drummer and a hype man. It was the strangest band setup I had ever seen but immediately I was intrigued when he played his opening track. I made my way over to the stage to get a better look at these guys. By the third song, the crowd had already began to grow. The eclectic mix of punk, hip hop, and indie rock that boomed from the mainstage made easy work of attracting hordes of pale-jean-wearing youngsters who all seemed equally surprised and intrigued by how fucking good this guy and his band were.

A thing I don't want to talk about at all is Future. I'm upset with him at this current juncture, but I think deep down I'm really just upset with myself. If you were there, you know what happened. But I won't speak on it. I can't. It's too fresh.

On Sunday I travelled back in time to 2016 into a sea of four-sided longsleeves and black skinny jeans and finally felt at home again as Pouya, Fat Nick, Xavier Wulf, and $uicideBoy$ cruised through their expansive discographies. The best part was that these guys could actually rap. Not a backing track among them and they sounded incredible on a live stage. It felt great to see these guys actually take their performances seriously and deliver a memorable show to their fans.

All in all, Rolling Loud Toronto was a bit of a let down, music wise. I had a sweet time partying with my friends but that's not what I'm writing about here. I'm writing about the festival itself. And the festival itself was Not Good. There were good parts of it, it wasn't entirely horrible, but I could never quite shake the feeling that something like Rolling Loud will just never work. Rap isn't meant to be performed or listened to on a massive event ground with stages sponsored by Uber and cops crawling all over the fucking place. It's just antithetical to the whole thing. My soul died a little when I saw a candy shop called the Trap Mart and at least fifty white kids wearing ski masks. A white frat boy in a Hawaiian shirt threw up a Crip sign in an act of acknowledgement as I passed him and I got so confused I thought I was having a stroke.

Maybe I shouldn't complain. I don't listen to Yeat. I don't use Tik Tok. I don't wear huge t-shirts and small shorts and chunky Air Force Ones. This thing wasn't meant for me. But I still think rap fans deserve better than this, so I will continue to scream into the void.

By RIVERS

I have a real soft spot for pop-rap released between 2009 and 2011. I'm not sure why. It could be because that's the time when I was first getting into hip hop really heavily. It could also be because it hearkens back to a simpler time in my life, when I was free of irony or cynicism, and earnestly enjoyed music without thinking about why I liked it or didn't like it. Whatever the case may be, I still fuck with a lot of those early tracks I was listening to. I've listed some of my favourites below. I'm sure you've heard all of these songs. But what you haven't heard are my dumb opinions about them.

By Blunted

Decided that this would be a good time for a roundup. I know it's not halfway through the year quite yet but fuck it I'm bored. Let's go.

By Blunted

Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers

Duvy - GRASSWAYZ

Future - I Never Liked You

Black Star - No Fear of Time

Buddy - Superghetto

Earl Sweatshirt - Sick!

42Dugg & ESTGee - Last Ones Left

Pusha T - It's Almost Dry

Yeat - 2Alive

By Blunted

The most underrated Nas album. Yes, I’m saying it. Hip Hop is Dead is good. Hell, I’ll even say it’s great. It’s underrated, over-hated, not considered enough, and whatever other similar language you can come up with in your head.

For a while, there was a pervading narrative that Nas had fallen off. It was not uncommon to hear people say that Illmatic was his only good album. Maybe they’d throw in It Was Written and/or Lost Tapes if they wanted to give caveats, or Stillmatic if you were talking to a particular brand of listener. Life is Good had a moment as well, but for the most part, people seemed to agree that most of Nas’ post-Illmatic output was not good. This has started to fade over time, you can see the tides changing on Stillmatic, God’s Son, and even the atrocities that are I Am… and Nastradamus, in rap comment sections across the internet whenever Nas is brought up. It’s a good thing, and the albums that are being re-appraised by fans mostly deserve it. I don’t agree with this whole thing where people pretend that Untitled is actually pretty good, but I’m glad people are having these conversations.

However, there is still one Nas record that has not received justice. A record that, while occasionally talked about, is largely forgotten or considered to be bad. I would like to enter this record into contention for Re-Evaluation By The Fans. The record I’m talking about, in case you can’t read titles, is 2006’s Hip Hop is Dead.

The thing about this record is that it received a fair amount of backlash right off the jump because of its title. In all fairness, it’s an inflammatory title, probably intentionally so. Nas was certainly not alone in his opinion at that time, but many southern rappers took great offense to it, most notably Young Jeezy, who later settled the minor dispute with Nas and went on to work with him. Recently, on a podcast I can’t be bothered to listen to but read a quote from an article, Nas said that the title was misunderstood. He was talking about the East Coast, not the South. And he wasn’t entirely wrong. There wasn’t a whole lot of great stuff coming out of the East at this time. Things were reaching a peak on the West Coast and the South was in the beginning stages of its eventual takeover.

But in the end, all of that stuff just distracted from the great music that is on this record. Obviously the title track was a hit, but this thing is just packed with good songs from front to back. I can’t get behind the idea that Nas has bad beats, so let’s just get that out of the way up front. I think that most of the beats Nas has rapped on are, at the very least, pretty good. Maybe I just have a taste for the cheesy keyboard-based beats that came from the 2000s, but I like almost every beat on this album, and most of Nas’ albums. For starters, this album opens with three of the best beats he’s rapped on, but the best of the trio is Carry on Tradition, which helms together a staccato faux-string section and stuttering drums. It’s one of my favourite Nas tracks, and one of his strongest conceptually. He reflects on his place in the game, declaring himself rightly as a cross-bearer, who keeps the game in check and makes sure things never get too out of hand. It’s a cool take, and it actually is a very astute representation of Nas’ place in hip hop. He’s not as much an elder statesman as he is a perpetual peer who represents the core of what the genre is about.

Where Are They Now is another strong track. It’s a cool 80s kind of beat, with a rock-influenced guitar lick, chopped vocal samples, and tight horn stabs.

There’s more rock influence on the will.i.am produced title track. Nas’ refrain on this track is just incredible, and the entire song in general is proof that Nas can make something catchy and poppy in a way that doesn’t sacrifice his style. Sidenote: this song has always reminded me of Gorillaz.

Who Killed It fucking rules and I won’t hear any different. The James Cagney voice is cool and the beat is funny. There is literally nothing to hate about this song unless you hate fun. And is Nas not allowed to have fun? Is the greatest rapper of all time not afforded a little wiggle room to goof around and do a silly voice? I think he is, and this song is the shit. Not only is it funny and whimsical, it’s also very well-written, with some great storytelling that puts narrative before rhymes without sacrificing the latter too much. I’ll honestly say this is one of Nas’ best songs, and if you initially dismissed it, you should revisit it. I promise you’ll find it funny, and it’s meant to be funny, so don’t take it too serious. I know humor isn’t something you would normally find on a Nas album, but he’s got it in spades on this track. The computerized “hip hop is so fuckin’ dead” voice at the end of the track seals the whole thing perfectly as what I would call a Great Bit.

Black Republicans needs to be talked about I guess, considering it’s one of the three songs from this album that people ever talk about, even though it’s actually one of the weaker tracks on the record. The beat is pretty good and I like it well enough, but it’s a very Nas beat. Nas floats over it, delivering excellent verses, but Jay Z gets a little lost in the bombast of it. The only guy who can rap over beats like this is Nas, because he seems to be able to completely tune out everything other than the tempo of the beat and write something great no matter what kind of atrocious instrumentation he’s spitting over. Nonetheless, it’s cool that Nas and Hov finally collaborated on this one, and I don’t completely hate it. Hov definitely does not fit on this beat though.

I like the verses on Not Going Back a lot, and the beat is great, but the hook is just so dated, and that’s coming from a guy who thinks Tougher Than Leather has aged well. I never liked those sung R&B hooks that were big in the 2000s, even at the time.

Still Dreaming is a beautiful rap song, truly. It represents everything I love in a hip hop recording. Soulful production, funky drums, sample chops, and good raps. It also represents the end of this album’s very short low-point. Kanye absolutely blacked out on this one, lyrically and on the beat. Nas rocks a great verse as well. This might be the best track on here next to Carry on Tradition. Nas and Ye work so well together, it’s a shame that NASIR was such garbage. Hopefully they collab again and make something on the caliber of this track or We Major.

Hold Down the Block is one of the best beats Nas has rapped on. I should note that when I say ‘best beat’ in this review, I’m referring to everything post-Illmatic. I’m not trying to pretend Salaam Remi or whoever else is on Premier’s level. And on that criteria it’s true, this beat is very good, flows nicely after Still Dreaming with it’s chill pianos, dense bass, and atmospheric synths. The hook is really nice as well, and its chopped refrain throughout the verses is a nice touch to Nas’ rhymes.

The opening of Blunt Ashes is so tight. Nas wonders if Langston Hughes and Alex Haley smoked weed before telling stories, and then says he’s about to get blazed before telling a story, and it all just fits so perfectly. Nas is a storyteller, truly one of the greatest who ever lived. All music aside, I pray to God that his writings are preserved far into the future to be studied in English classes like Hughes and other writers of that caliber. This track is yet another of the countless incredible stories that Nas has told, and is only slightly ruined by the hook, which isn’t all that bad but is kind of stilted. I like Nas on this tempo, you don’t hear him as much on Southern-influenced rhythms. He uses the extra space on the beat to his advantage and gets into some cool pockets and breaks out some great schemes.

Let There Be Light is one of Nas’ strongest tracks post-Illmatic. The lyrics detail Nas’ experiences with hip hop, reflecting on its ‘death’ mournfully, complete with a gospel hook. It’s great stuff. A little melodramatic, but it hits you in the heartstrings if you’ve got any. Nas is tapping into a similar vein as tracks like Memory Lane on this one, rapping through pained nostalgia about times lost. This is a very well-written, well-produced rap song. Just about as close to perfect as you can get without sacrificing honesty and sincerity.

Play on Playa sees Nas linking up with Snoop Dogg and the results are excellent. The beat is funky and slick, and Nas and Snoop both come with good raps. Nas’ gets into some sexier territory here though and it is not his strong suit. He is not good at writing sexual material and never has been. Any time he enters that realm the results are gross. But it’s only a couple lines, so I can forgive it, and rightfully so because this track is a banger. Snoop came to hang with Nas and he, shockingly, was not entirely out-rapped. He held his own, which maybe shouldn’t be surprising, but I’ve never considered Snoop a top tier lyricist or anything like that.

The beat on Can’t Forget About You is beautifully crafted. The samples, the scratches, the drums, it’s all perfect. The hook from Chrisette Michele is really nice, jazzy, and soulful, and bridges the gap perfectly between Nas’ verses. The verses, speaking of, are technically brilliant, but conceptually they don’t grab me quite as much as some other songs on this record. Nonetheless, this is a great track in a string of great tracks, and I love hearing Nas on this kind of blown-out production. He’s not entirely familiar to it, but there’s a lo-fi-ness to it that I think sounds really unique in the context of Nas’ lyricism.

The Game checks in for a guest verse on Hustlers. In the opening lines of the song, Nas claims that he was the first New York emcee to work with Dr. Dre, which I didn’t think was true, but after checking briefly on the internet it does appear to be a factual statement. This beat is classic, in my opinion. It doesn’t get much better than this in terms of 2000s-style production. The ascending strings add a tension to the track that is resolved by the low pitched brass stabs that pop in and out. The Game’s verse is alright. I’ve never been a huge fan of his, and this verse isn’t really any different. The gunshot thing in his verse is pretty cool, but other than that he just does his usual thing where he raps about other rappers. I enjoy the verse nonetheless though, Game taps into some cool flows and he’s got a cool rap voice. Nas outshines Game on this track in the end, though.

Hope is a cool track, but honestly not my favourite of this bunch. The line about “you can smell the PCP smoke” is sick, and there are many other quotables and good flows on this track, but I just can’t really get into listening to an acapella. It’s cool in the context of the album though, and pays homage to the early days of hip hop with dudes kicking it acapella in cyphers and what not. But still, it doesn’t translate amazingly to recording, and doesn’t really reward repeat listens once you’ve dissected the lyrics, which are really great, but would have been even more impactful with a tight beat to go with them. This track is still worth a listen for how unique it is.

Shine On, the album closer, is unfortunately completely indefensible, and nearly discredits my entire argument about this album being good. It is genuinely so bad that I reconsidered writing this review after hearing it, but I think my point stands in spite of it. If you delete this track and have Hope as the closer, it’s an easy 9/10 album. With this track it gets bumped down to like a 7.7 or something if we’re using the Pitchfork scale, which we’re not.

Rx Papi - Heaven For A DopeBoy

By Blunted