Thirty Three Jones | Desktop Site
For a minute there, I was on a roll with the mixtapes that I had been picking up. The T.I./Jay-Z tape was dope and the D-Block tape was much better than expected. I should have quit while I was ahead, but instead I went out last night and picked up the latest Lloyd Banks mixtape (the promo tape for Rotten Apple) and the best thing I can say about it is that it saved me from paying $18.00 for the retail version.
Lloyd often gets touted as the best lyricist in G-Unit, but that holds about as much weight as saying you're the best singer in Danity Kane. It may be true, but is it really something you want to be known for? Still, his first album, The Hunger For More, showed some promise so I didn't expect this mixtape to be that bad. I should have known better, after XXL Magazine gave Rotten Apple an "L" rating, which I believe is the first time any Interscope or G-Unit record has ever received anything less than an "XL" from the magazine. Not to suggest that Interscope has any influence over XXL, but if you put out an album under G-Unit and it gets a mediocre review from a magazine that is financially dependent on your record label, you might want to take it back into the studio and put some more work into it.
The mixtape, New York Times, contains a bunch of samples from the actual album and a bunch of "freestyles." I put that word in quotes, because there's no way he was dropping these verses off the top of his head. Anyway, here are a couple of the tracks that were decent enough:
Mr Me Too freestyle
Drive Slow freestyle
If you are a diehard Lloyd Banks or G-Unit fan, then go cop the NY Times mixtape and Rotten Apple.
10/12/2006 10:45:44 AM posted by Fresh