French Montana and Fetty Wap
"Coke Zoo" - Oct. 26
Fetty Wap and French Montana’s "Coke Zoo" collaboration mixtape, released Oct. 26, seemed sort of random to me. While the rappers haven’t really worked together, they still decided to team up for a joint mixtape. The mixtape is 13 songs in length, with features from Monty, Chris Brown, Puff Daddy and Nitt Da Gritt. "Coke Zoo" has a few gems but isn’t anything to write home about.
Kirk Knight
"Late Knight Special" - Oct. 30
Kirk Knight released his debut album "Late Knight Special" Friday. Knight is a member of the Brooklyn-based, extensive underground-rap group Pro Era. "Late Knight Special" has 12 songs and is about 45 minutes long. This album has several features coming from fellow Pro Era member Joey Bada$$, as well as a few other popular underground artists, such as Mick Jenkins and Noname Gypsy. Knight nearly produced the entire album himself with the exception of co-production with ThemPeople on a couple of songs. With Knight’s "Late Knight Special," Pro Era proves to be one of the most talented rap collectives in the game today. Definitely give this album a listen.
J Dilla
"Dillatronic" - Oct. 30
J Dilla’s posthumous album "Dillatronic" was released Friday by his mother and Vintage Vibez Music Group. Produced by the Detroit, Michigan, legend, "Dillatronic" is a collection of 41 rare and never-before-heard instrumentals, ranging from 19 seconds to more than three minutes in length.
If you’re into old-school hip-hop, you’ll appreciate this album — but besides the sentimental value, there isn’t much more to "Dillatronic" besides listening to it as background music.
D12
"The Devil’s Night" Mixtape - Oct. 30
The Dirty Dozen, also known as D12, released their long-awaited mixtape "The Devil’s Night" Friday. D12 is a hip-hop group from Detroit, Michigan, that formed in 1996. Its members include Eminem, Bizarre, Kuniva, Fuzz Scoota, Swifty McVay and Kon Artis. Fans of D12 had looked forward to this mixtape for quite some time, and D12 continues to show, even after about 20 years in the game, they can still put out a quality project.
"The Devil’s Night" contains 15 songs and features King Gordy, Royce da 5’9" and G-Unit’s Kidd Kidd, as well as an appearance from Eminem.
Young Thug
"Slime Season 2" - Oct. 31
While most UF students tailgated at the Florida vs. Georgia game on Saturday, Young Thug dropped "Slime Season 2," his sequel mixtape to "Slime Season."
While many of us really looked forward to Young Thug and Migos’ joint mixtape, "Migos Thuggin," that was supposed to be released on Halloween as well, any new music from Thugger is always welcome.
Thug has a handful of features with appearances from Rich Homie Quan and Birdman, along with production coming from the producers he usually works with: Isaac Flame, Metro Boomin, London On Da Track, TM88, Southside, etc. As a whole, "Slime Season 2" is laid-back compared to Thug’s typical work.
Lloyd Banks
"Halloween Havoc 2" - Nov. 1
G-Unit rapper Lloyd Banks released his mixtape "Halloween Havoc 2" on Sunday. The mixtape is a followup to his tape, "Halloween Havoc," which was released around the same time in 2008.
Although I am entirely against hip-hop purists, this mixtape is for true hip-hop fans. Banks’ tape has that old-school rap style and should hold over his fans until the release of "The Cold Corner 3."
Puff Daddy
"MMM" - Nov. 4
Yesterday was Diddy’s birthday and to celebrate he released a new mixtape titled "MMM."
Diddy released the mixtape under his old stage name Puff Daddy. "MMM" stands for "Money Making Mitch" and was supposed to come out in 2014 but kept getting pushed back until now.
The mixtape features several notable artists including Jadakiss, Pusha T, Lil Kim, King Los, Future, French Montana, Big Sean, Travi$ Scott, Ty Dolla $ign and more. Puff Daddy announced that "MMM" would be released early Wednesday morning with an Instagram post and dropped it later in the day.
Diddy has been making music for over 20 years, but it’s been a while since we’ve had a new Puff Daddy mixtape or album so definitely check out this new project from the hip-hop legend.
