By T. Love

Periodically, songs enter the public conscious and manage to stay there for seemingly inexplicable reasons.  If the artist from whence the song came is lucky, they parlay the notoriety into a semblance of a successful music career.  If they don’t, their flash in the pan, fifteen minutes of fame is relegated to the annals of other one hit wonders.

In 2003 it was Mr. C and the “The Cha Cha Slide”.  In 2006 it was DJ Webstar and “Chicken Noodle Soup”.   2007 had Lil Mama and her ode to glorified chap stick with “Lip Gloss” and 2008 had Soulja Boy and his Grammy nominated “Crank That(Soulja Boy)”.  In the interim Mr. C has returned to obscurity, Lil Mama has become a presence at award shows that would make Old Dirty Bastard proud, and Soulja Boy has become your favorite rapper’s least favorite rapper.  DJ Webstar on the other hand has quietly kept his nose to the grind stone and in the process is quite possibly becoming more than a footnote on VH1’s “I Love the 2000s”.

DJ Webstar’s new mixtape, Straight Outta Harlem, finds the rapper/producer/dj making a bona fide effort to show that he belongs.  First and foremost, DJ Webstar is not trying to elevate black consciousness, talk about how many people he’s murked, or bricks of yayo he’s moved.  Straight Outta Harlem is a party record, nothing more.  It’s a saccharine auditory version of 106 and Park.  You know what though?  After a listen you can’t be mad at the man because he’s pretty damn good at what he does.  Sure, there’s a few joints that feature auto tune and there’s the obligatory Nicki Minaj and Rihanna features, but this mixtape is a heater.

Although Straight Outta Harlem is lacking in elite level lyricism of any kind, its saving grace is the beats.  Exhibit A: “I Got You” featuring Olivia which is already making the club rounds.  DJ Webstar spits gems such as “I’ll never beat you like Ike beat Tina/ I’ll never leave you like Wayne did Trina” over a bouncy bass line and intermittent snare drum rolls complemented by Olivia’s syrupy sweet coo.  He also takes turns along with T-Rex rapping over the banger “I Get Crazy” and came up with this clever little ditty for the chorus “Oh they like me/all the girls they like me/so I just do em all just like Nike/I might pipe her/ Rowdy Roddy Piper/but I’ll never ever ever ever wife her”.

Fellow Harlemite Jim Jones is featured on three tracks, the best of which is “O.M.G.”.  It’s got drums akin to a line of cannons going off in rhythm and a party whistle(a la Kaseem Dean) to move things along.  Webstar’s verse is the closest he comes to “killing” it on the mic on the entire tape and Jim Jone’s verse pushes the adage “it’s not what you say but how you say it” to the limit.  Webstar’s “Pepe” freestyle showcases him rhyming over reggaeton/dancehall that only adds to the overall club atmosphere of the mixtape.

Out of the nineteen tracks on the mixtape, eighteen of them bang, and about half of those knock pretty hard.  That’s the beauty of a mixtape.  A good chunk of the beats he rhymes over have already passed muster in the streets, radio, and clubs. “Your Love” with Nicki Minaj used the same type of tired ass 80s new wave sample that’s been used for lots of other rap songs and comes across as corny. Then again, your girl might like it.  DJ Webstar calls himself the Diddy of the new generation which is a claim that’s definitely up for debate.  What is not up for debate is Straight Outta Harlem serves its purpose and if it doesn’t have you ready to go to the club and party, there’s something wrong with you.

DOWNLOAD http://www.mediafire.com/?oghn04fgykj

out of 5

Follow Us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/planetill

Join Us on the Planet Ill Facebook Group for more discussion

Follow us on Networked Blogs