Welcome to Mixdown, an ongoing series where Pitchfork staffers and contributors talk about mixtapes and mixes that may not be covered in our reviews section but are worth discussing. This week we're tackling new mixtapes by Rich Homie Quan, Tinashe and Lil Bibby.
Lil Bibby: Free Crack
Corban Goble: Just so you guys know, I’m not listening to anything that wasn’t recorded in Chris Bosh’s basement from now on. So should I sit this one out?
Jordan Sargent: Chris Bosh’s basement is the new Carlos Boozer’s mansion. Corban, let’s keep talking in cryptic sports references for the rest of the chat.
Carrie Battan: Wait, I can actually go with this, this cryptic basketball reference thing. Most people don’t know this about me, but I was an NBA obsessive in the 8th grade, the year the 76ers were really good. I went home early from my 8th grade dance (I didn’t have a date, obviously) so I could watch one of the playoff games. (This is going somewhere, I promise!) During those playoffs I developed this devastating crush on (then-Sacramento Kings' guard) Mike Bibby, who was a very arcane semi-celebrity for a 13-year-old girl in the Philadelphia suburbs to be obsessed with. I had no one to talk about it with. Anyway, I can’t listen to the rapper Lil Bibby without thinking about it.
JS: Moving on.
CG: This is solid, but something like this is never going to bowl me over. I see a lot of people making the Hell Rell-meets-drill-music comparison and I don’t think that’s far off, though it probably doesn’t give Bibby enough credit. It’s fairly musical and workmanlike.
JS: I’m not sure what the general consensus is, but I much prefer Lil Herb, who is Bibby’s frequent rap partner and who appears on a few tracks here. Herb’s flow is a bit tighter, and he has much more charisma. But as far as pure street-rap, Free Crack is pretty solid. In terms of drill stuff I’d still rate it behind Lil Durk’s tape from this year and even Lil Reese’s from last year (wow much lil). Bibby’s songcraft is a bit lacking compared to those guys. King L really stands out when he pops up on this—he’s just more expressive, though Bibby certainly does have his own moments (the hooks on "Shout Out" or "Tired of Talkin" for instance).
CG: Carrie, did Free Crack exceed or fall short of your Mike Bibby-based expectations?
CB: Bibby, Mike > Bibby, Lil in my eyes still, but I do very much enjoy this tape— highlights include the song with both King L and Lil Herb ("Shout Out") and the song produced by Hit-Boy, "Whole Crew". Bibby has a bit of a French Montana thing going on in that he can sound like he just caught a cold and that he doesn’t have enough sheer charisma to carry a whole project but surrounds himself with good company. Two other things: a) I always like being reminded of Cam’ron’s ability to articulate the imbalances of power within the American workforce (Cam Skit: "America is not scheduled for us!") and b) this is definitely the first mixtape to kick off with a Shakira sample and close with a Florence and the Machine sample.
People have a lot of hope that Drake’s co-sign will help Bibby and Lil Herb get big, but maybe it's Mike Bibby who'll catch on and turn the whole NBA onto them.
Rich Homie Quan: I Promise I Will Never Stop Going In
CB: Can we all promise right now that We Will Never Stop Going In?
CG: Duh.
JS: I made this joke on Twitter but (but!) I can’t not read this mixtape title in DJ Khaled’s voice. To me, no one more epitomizes the ethos of promising to never stop going in than Khaled. Also it just sounds like a Khaled ramble. I really hope that this leads to Quan’s major label debut being the rap game When the Pawn…. For the sake of space I will not draw that joke out any further. But, really, this is a fantastic mixtape.
CG: I feel like this guy is going to make some catchy shit in his time. I’m pulling out "1000", because that was something I went back to right away, but it applies to a lot of songs on here; just kind of the strechiness and earworminess of many of the hooks. Pretty effortless-seeming, while also differentiating himself from someone who is able to do something similar melodically like Future. That’s kind of stuff I favor.
CB: I’m going to be the downer here and say that I'm not that thrilled by I Promise I Will Never Stop Going In (I just wanted to type it out in its entirety again). "Type of Way" never struck me the way it strikes other people; this tape feels like a slightly flattened out version of that sound. It's telling that the parts I like the best are Young Thug’s guest verse and "I Fuck Wit You Girl", the song on which he apologizes to a girl for cheating on her over and over again.
JS: I’ll single out my two favorites: "Blah Blah Blah", which is basically the inverse of "I Fuck Wit You Girl" but also has an instantly memorable, babbling chorus. Also a kind of weird but funny easter egg referencing Shawty Lo in the pre-chorus. I just walk around going "blah blah blah" now, but just to myself and not to my boyfriend as Quan might advise. Also there is "Walk Thru", which is the best new rap song I’ve heard in months. It reminds me of one of my favorite lost mixtape cuts ever, Young Dro’s smooth R&B track "All That Money". Both that and "Walk Thru" remind me of jook, an airy twist on Miami bass that was pretty popular in Florida a few years back. It’s a sound I love, and the hook on "Walk Thru" is effortless. Everyone should go and listen to Grind Mode’s "I’m So High" when they’re done reading Mixdown.
Tinashe: Black Water
CB: I remember reading about Tinashe when she teamed up with Jacques Greene earlier this year (on a song called "Painted Faces", which I really like) and wondering whether she’d find a way to make things work within the major-label industrial complex or start working outside of those confines, like so many artists have done this year. This mixtape definitely shows her doing the latter—and it’s occasionally a very nice-sounding tape, but as with a lot of this stuff, it blurs the line between experimental and just amateur. I do love Travi$ Scott’s verse on "Vulnerable"; I'm hoping this song, along with the new "Shabba" remix are the first in a long line of riffs on "I’m In It".
Tinashe: "Vulnerable" [ft. Travi$ Scott] on SoundCloud.
JS: That one with Travi$ Scott is maybe my favorite on the tape, but it’s also the one where Tinashe’s vocals are treated as if she’s just a sample. And that highlights that this kind of R&B can be tough terrain to navigate when you’re working with producers who came up cutting apart vocals. There’s just a really fine line between when this stuff is affecting and when it kind of just floats on by. That said, there are good tracks on here: "Midnight Sun", which has a strong chorus, a tricky little drum pattern and then slips into a swagged out little outro (shoutout to Terius Nash).
Tinashe: "Midnight Sun" on SoundCloud.
CG: Yeah, "Midnight Sun" was the one that jumped out at me too; it feels a little more heated-up than the others. Listening through the tape before "Midnight Sun", I had that feeling like when you’re at a arena and maybe the opener is on, and you’re sitting and chilling and then the song you like comes on and you’re like "OK, I should probably stand up for this one." There’s a few moments on this like that, but a lot of it is kind of aimless and not particularly memorable.
JS: Yeah I’d like to see her emphasize her voice more. I mean, her vocals on "1 For Me" are amazing. That’s a legit chorus. There’s potential here, I think we can all see where this could lead to something pretty great.
CB: If Tinashe were reading this she might tell us to revisit mixtape track "Stunt": "Fuck your opinion/ I don’t need your approval, baby… Talking about some shit you probably never get to do." Hashtag Brandy Deep Cuts.
Since this is the last Mixdown this year, I think we should close out this one in the year-end spirit: by ranking our Top Mixdown Moments in list form.
Mixdown's Top Five Moments:
5. The time Rich Kidz read Mixdown and saluted us via Twitter.
5a. The time Kid Daytona read Mixdown and tweeted gratitude at us even though we didn’t say anything that nice about his mixtape.
4. Carrie pointing out the DatPiff comment that broke down the Delusional Thomas mixtape for everyone (no one) who didn’t understand it was Mac Miller rapping in a chipmunk voice.
3. The time Corban called out Stalley for falsifying details of his alleged college basketball career.
2. Jordan detailing hybrid burger food item in his Yeezus tour breakdown (which was the #1 moment on our Mixdown Reader’s Poll).
1. Carrie's Mike Bibby crush-zone anecdote, which you can watch on ESPN later today as part of the Instant Classic series.
CG: Bieber recently claimed that swag was dead. Any last words?
JS: Swag died when I bought Yeezus tour merch.
CB: 2013 is the year I started earnestly and involuntarily saying "swag" as a statement of approval. Sorry to my friends. Swag is dead. Also, marry me Mike Bibby.