With this in mind, the latest new boys, Brooklyn's Joey BADA$$ and his Pro Era crew, have a lot a competition as Hip-Hop starts to gradually claw its way out of commercial hole it's been stuck in for the past 4 years. There's a lot resting on one little mixtape here, the long awaited revival of the East coast...and the good news is that Joey and Pro Era don't disappoint.
The naming is everything and with the '1999' mixtape the message is clear, bringing back that classic 90's 'boom bap' feel is the main objective here and it's achieved with flying colours. 'FromdaTomb$' and it's accompanying video was perhaps the first single release to really affirm the 90's revival being shot for here and there's a reason why it captured Hip-Hop fans globally, Chuck Stranger's tight production is reminiscient of the classic Crooklyn Dodgers sound while both Chuck and Joey deliver sharp lyrics with the veteran flow of many a rapper much their senior. Joey describes it as Hip-Hop without 'gimmicks', and although that's not entirely true, it's definitely music with substance well above its '90's/Golden Age motif'. What's more, it's the consistency that really shines through the mixtape, with each of the 15 tracks able to stand on their own and not a single filler in sight. Of course one of the biggest contributing factors at work here are the big name producers and borrowed productions behind each track, with the late J Dilla, MF Doom, Knxwledge and Lord Finesse all featuring, and although more has been repurposed than originally composed, it's apparant that the Pro Era guys have some seriously good taste.
In a mixtape so consistent there are still highlights however; aside from the aforementioned 'FromdaTomb$'.....'World Domination', 'Waves' and 'Righteous Minds' are all perfect examples of top notch production meeting intelligent, and flawlessly delivered lyrics. Apart from the few borrowed beats there's really nothing to fault here and although it's probably better to judge an album on it's merits rather than a lack of faults, it's difficult not to make comparisions with the flawed, inconsistent, yet impressive mixtape releases of other young rappers and Hip-Hop collectives (read: K Lamar, OF etc). The fact is, while there may be nothing here to really 'wow' with innovation, there's still 15 solid Hip-Hop tracks here and that's the real impressive feat. Yes mixtapes have been done before, but maybe, just maybe they've never been done this well and if that's not enough for people to stand up and take notice of Joey BADA$$ and Pro Era then I don't know what is.
'1999' is simple a no-brainer, 'get-it-right-now' FREE download, and an essential addition to any Hip-Hop fan's library....more than that...it might be the best mixtape you'll hear all year.
Check the 10-track preview after the jump and be sure to grab the whole FREE download here. WANT MORE? Then follow The HotBox on Facebook and Twitter
