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The Game drops new mixtape

Never one to rest on his laurels, The Game has dropped a new free mixtape.

Hoodmorning (No Typo) follows in the footsteps of his awesome Purp & Patron and Brake Lights mixtapes over the past year and features appearances from Wiz Khalifa, Yelawolf, Redman, Dr Dre, Snoop and Lil Wayne amongst others.

You can grab it for free here – Crossfire approved, so get clicking. Check out Uncle Otis below where Game switches up his style a million times as well as giving a nice dig to Kreayshawn. Banger.

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Tech N9ne

All 6s and 7s
Strange Music

For the uninitiated, Tech N9ne is seen as more than just a rapper, he is an underground legend, a self proclaimed Riot Maker and Cult Leader and judging by the reaction he gets at his shows, these are titles you would find it hard to take away from him. From the awe struck faces of people in the front rows to the chaos breaking out in the mosh pits at the back (yes, mosh pits at a hip hop show), it is clear to see that Tech N9ne can never be claimed to be just a rapper.

A phenomenon then, would be a much more accurate description and with ‘All 6’s and 7’s’, Tech’s 13th full studio release, he has enlisted the help of some of hip hop’s biggest including Busta Rhymes, B.O.B and Lil’ Wayne to name but a few. Understandably, some long time fans have expressed concern about these guests being on the album, claiming that they were too mainstream and would dilute the raw, hardcore sound that they had grown so accustomed to.

Luckily, however, almost the exact opposite effect is achieved with B.O.B and Busta bringing possibly the best verses of their career’s to the table in ‘Am I A Psycho’ and ‘Worldwide Choppers’ respectively; Tech truly has managed to bring the best out of his guests and as he promised years ago, he ‘hasn’t turned mainstream, the mainstream has turned Tech’. The aforementioned ‘Worldwide Choppers’ is easily one of the highlights of Tech’s career, let alone this album, bringing Yelawolf, Busta Rhymes whose partially stuttered verse is definitely one of those all too rare moments that absolutely demand a rewind, Ceza who opening the track in his native Turkish, Twista and more all delivering extremely tight verses at the speed of light to avoid being outclassed by Tech (which is no easy task).

For many, Tech N9ne is at his most appealing when at his most introspective and there is no shortage of his trademark self loathing and apologetic lyrical content, most notably on ‘Mama Nem’ and‘If I Could’, the latter of which is a slower paced track featuring an outstanding cameo from Deftones that proves that Tech can still impress with his lyricism just as much as he can with his speed; although there is nothing quite as deep as ‘Suicide Letters’ or ‘This Ring’ from earlier in his career he is still a very open and honest lyricist on this records who isn’t afraid to bare his scars for his fans to see. There has also been a darker side to Tech throughout his career (listen to ‘Trapped in a Psycho’s Body’ from 2002’s Absolute Power for evidence of that) and this is also present on ‘All 6’s and 7’s as shown on ‘Am I a Psycho?’, which features an unusually raw B.O.B launching a scathing attack on Odd Future in his verse (another of the many highlights on this album) and where ‘Trapped in a Psycho’s Body’ may have been Tech’s ‘The Way I Am’, this track is his ‘Guilty Conscience’ with the split personality dialogue between B.O.B and himself taking centre stage.

Lil’ Wayne’s contribution to the album was one of the main talking points leading up to it’s release and it has to be said that ‘Fuck Food’ featuring Wayne and T-Pain hasn’t lived up to the hype, whilst still a solid track, Wayne’s verse feels tacked on and leaves you wondering Tech couldn’t just have recorded the song with himself and long time collaborator Krizz Kaliko who is in typically top form every time he opens his mouth on this record to similar, if not better effect. Still, whilst the song may not live up to the hype, the fact that Tech is now working with rappers as big as Wayne is a huge credit to his hard work over the 25+ years he’s been making music and possibly a path to the extra attention that Tech deserves for his talent and perseverance.

In summary, this is undoubtedly one of Tech’s best albums in which he doesn’t stray from his style despite the popularity of his collaborators, an issue that is accurately addressed on ‘Love Me Tomorrow’. Whilst there may be one or two tracks that could be cut from the album without detriment to the quality, there are highlights aplenty on this release and it’s sure to please the hardcore Technicians just as much as it would appeal to those who may not have heard of him before. The album ticks all the boxes except one, there’s still no collaboration with Bone Thugs n Harmony.

Ryan De Freitas.

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The Game

The Game
Purp & Patron Mixtape
Free Download

The Game dropped one of the best mixtapes in a quite a while when he released Brake Lights last year and somehow, over the course of nearly 30 tracks here, he seems to have outdone himself again. As everyone waits for this new album R.E.D., the LA rapper chucked out Purp & Patron and served another reminder of why he should be considered amongst the current greats.

Going in hard from the very start, an early appearance from Weezy on Soo Woo features some nice brass samples after typical Pharrell production on the Snoop-guested In My 64. The standout track comes in the form of Taylor Gang with Wiz Khalifa this time on team-up duties over one of the best beats I’ve heard in a long, long time, by Che Vicious. Further guest spots include Rick Ross, Jim Jones, Clinton Sparks and even Big Daddy Kane, Doug E Fresh and KRS-One as The Game brings in as many of his mates as he can.

One criticism that’s always levelled at The Game is that he doesn’t really have his own style, he tends to mould himself around the guest rapper that he’s alongside, but this is what makes the new mixtape such a fun ride. He shows a playful side that we’ve never seen before on Children’s Story in a huge homage to Slick Rick and Biz Markie beat, a dimension which is as endearing as it is smile-creating.

Other standout moments include the Biggie-sampling Living Better Now, the DJ Skee mix of Black & Yellow, which has Game joining Snoop and the original MC of the tune Wiz Khalifa for Purp & Yellow, RZA’s guitar-led Heart Breaker and the Travis Barker, Lil Wayne, Swizz Beatz and Rick Ross mammoth Can A Drummer Get Some.

Whilst this is a long old ride, almost two hours worth of hip hop, it whizzes past and showcases Game’s ear for a beat and now undoubted vocal prowess. If this is anything to go by, R.E.D. is going to be one hell of an album.

Abjekt.

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Free Downloads

Free Downloads: 21/01/11

Last year we had a monster supply of straight-up-no-messing-around FREE music for you all to wrap your ears around. Our Soundcloud become some sort of portal to a place where you could pick up music files and essentially sleep with them. OK, OK, really, it’s just a sort of music blog style thing where we gather a bunch of things that are available (and cleared artist’s themselves… no leakyjoes here I’m afraid) for free and round them up so you don’t have to sift through all the crap that stinks up Tumblr, WordPress and Blogspot on a daily basis. Here’s some bangers to kick start 2011.

On a electronic and beat tip we have fist pumping beats and eclectic production from the likes of innerpartysystem and Andreya Triana who get the remix treatment from Starkey and TOKiMONSTA respectively. Bars, beats and big tings come from a selection of capable wordsmiths, including Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Rittz, Yelawolf, Big Krit and Jaylib. Realness sans loops comes from La Dispute, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead, Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros, Mogwai and Wavves. Get stuck in.

innerpartysystem – American Trash (Starkey remix) by Crossfire Music

Andreya Triana – Far Closer (TOKiMONSTA Remix) by Crossfire Music

Nicki Minaj – Roman’s Revenge 2.0 with Lil’ Wayne by Crossfire Music

La Dispute – How I Feel by Crossfire Music

And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – Weight Of The Sun by Crossfire Music

Edward Sharpe The Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below (iTunes Session) by Crossfire Music

Mogwai – San Pedro by Crossfire Music

RITTZ- Fulla Shit Feat.Yelawolf by Crossfire Music

Jaylib – Louder by Crossfire Music

Wavves – Mutant by Crossfire Music