There’s been plenty of chatter between pro-Drake and anti-Drake heads on TRU lately. Personally, I disagree with those who claim that Drake is flat out wack, as well as those who laud him as the best thing since Atari. Drake is talented, but his hype supercedes his talent, and that may be his undoing. At this point, he has no choice but to exceed expectations on his debut album or he’ll be declared a failure. Can you imagine what would’ve happened if LeBron turned out to be a bust after all that hype?

I also think it’s premature to draw conclusions on Drake’s overall skills on the strength of just one mixtape. So, I’ve decided to spotlight his earlier body of work to help both sides further their disputation. I’m assuming everyone has already heard So Far Gone from intro to outro at least 200 times. Below you’ll find Drake’s much ballyhooed Comeback Season mixtape, which some herald as his best work, as well as his DJ Smallz collaboration, Room for Improvement. If you haven’t heard these, proceed for linkage.
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A.C. has assembled all the songs from his Attack of the Blogs campaign into one convenient folder. The mixtape is hosted by Clinton Sparks. Proceed for the tracklist and linkage.
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Jermaine Dupri’s side project, Ocean’s 7, released its debut mixtape last week. The crew consists of JD, Nelly, Usher, Johnta Austin, B.Cox, Trey Songz, and since Bow Wow simply refuses to be seen in a monkey suit, JD tapped his personal assistant, Tyrone Davis, as the 7th member. Sounds like a group of distinguished sangas on paper, right? Well, proceed to see what the TRU Brain Trust had to say about the Ocean’s 7 mixtape.
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Rhymefest teams up with Scram Jones on his new mixtape, The Manual. There’s never a boring moment when ‘Fest is on the mic. Who else can walk into the studio with a bunch of Michael Jackson tributes and come out with one of the best mixtapes of 2008? Do yourself a favor and proceed for the download link. I don’t go out of my way to plug mixtapes, but this one is hotter than fire.

• Rhymefest – The Manual

[Props: Get Right Music]

Put on your Excitement Shoes, everyone. From the bloggerific trio of B-Double, Kevin Nottingham, & Nappy Afro comes this goody good mixtape dubbed The Good Morning Mixtape. Download, listen, and enjoy. You’re welcome.

The Good Morning Mixtape

This spanking new Kickdrums mixtape is the best mixtape you’ll hear all day. Highlights include awe-inspiring remixes of new and unreleased tunes from Kanye West, Joell Ortiz, Slaughterhouse, Talib Kweli, KiD CuDi, Joe Budden, Freeway and LOTS more. Proceed for your sexy download link. Read the rest of this entry »

It looks like Bobby Creekwater, who was left to rot away at the Circus of Procrastination that is Shady Records, is serious about this rap thing. Bobby is currently working on his debut album, A Brilliant Mistake, which Eminem will oversee as soon as Bizarre can convince him to come out of hibernation. For now, you can always quench your thirst with The B.C. Era mixtape, which Bobby introduced to the Twitterverse yesterday. He’s been tweeting like a mad man these days. (Follow him. Then follow me.) Download The B.C. Era below. Then get drunk.

• Bobby Creekwater – “I Mean It”

• Bobby Creekwater – The B.C. Era

In case you need some inspirational music to bump on your way to Notorious premiere today, proceed for some Brooklyn Bullshit after the cut. Read the rest of this entry »