By Malice Intended

DJ Green Lantern’s Invasion Radio 2K10 boasts an impressive line-up of some of the best and most notable artists to emerge over the past two decades. The set opens with a Nas verse on “Power, Paper, Pussy”. Salaam Remi laces Nas with one of the most recognizable Trumpet samples ever, courtesy of Herb Alpert’s classic “Rise”. The horns float atop the Billy Squier “Big Beat” break used on Run DMC’s “Here We Go”. The verse is short and sweet, and the sparse musical accompaniment has an authentic 1980’s New York feel that suits Mr. Jones well.

Fabolous lays his trademark drowsy vocals over the spaced-out sonics of “Money Chaser”. The futuristic feel of the track is a bit overdone, but the bottom heavy bass more than compensates. Green Lantern himself provides Jay-Z with dramatic violins and sparse drums on “Most Kingz”, featuring Chris Martin. The song is itself is an expected lamentation on the dilemmas of those in power. It’s not one of Hov’s best verses, but even average Hov is quite serviceable. The track goes hard regardless.

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The lively remix of “Leaders” by Nas and Damien Marley lacks the folksy, inspirational appeal of the original. Thankfully, a Bun-B verse laced with an unexpected awareness of Rastafarianism makes it worthwhile. Sheek Louch and Beanie Sigel offer their northeastern brand of thuggish bravado on “Silver Back Mack”. Sheek’s charisma is palpable but his verse is insubstantial. Beans comes through with some truly clever wordplay.

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Soothing flutes over imposing drums characterize “Bitches” by Fabulous. Young Guru infuses his remix of “The Borough” with Bluesy grit. Jigga rides the rugged terrain like a 4×4. Overall it is a more satisfying effort than “Most Kingz”. Green Lantern supplies an absolutely amazing piano sample for Emilio Rojas, Curren$y and Young Chris on “Asphault”. The keys are perhaps too effective, as they nearly render the vocals inconsequential.

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Church organs lend an ominous feel to 38 Special’s “Don’t Give a Fuck”. The lyrical content is about what one would expect from the song title and artist name. Clichéd though it may be, the earthiness of the track is enjoyable nonetheless. Don Juan and fever’s inspirational “Politics as Usual” is killed by a horrible chorus.

The only true setback of Invasion Radio 2K10 is its overabundance of freestyles. While freestyles have always been a key feature of mixtapes, a few of the selections here are just plain unnecessary. The Dream sings over B.I.G’s immortal “Warning” instrumental. The result is indistinguishable in terms of style and content from anything else he’s ever done. Lil’ Jon’s incessant yelling might get the blood pumping during the chorus of an actual song, but when it precedes a Roscoe Dash freestyle it is highly annoying.

Invasion Radio 2K10 offers solid production that would be welcomed on an official release, let alone a mixtape. While some of the rappers don’t exactly bring their “A” game, there is enough to provide lyrical sustenance. Sans some of the more unnecessary freestyles, this is a pretty tight collection of songs. In a time before mixtapes were routinely released on the net, Invasion Radio 2K10 might have scored a gold plaque.

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