By Ahmad Awadallah

Mickey Factz returns as his quasi-character Mickey Mau5 on the eponymous mixtape. Mickey Mau5 is a character that tells tales of growing up during the crack/Regan-era. To make matters a little more peculiar, Mickey decides to spit over a slew of instrumentals laced by Electronic Music maestro Dead Mau5 and the pioneering Dangermouse. Mickey definitely shows his flow-versatility by rapping on beats most rappers ignore because their inability to grasp the production’s nuances.The Bronx native kicks it off with “Memoirs” where Mau5 speaks about the plethora of plights going on in New York City during 1980s including AIDS, prostitution, crack vials littering the streets and oh yeah, yelling “Fuck Ed Koch.” He definitely pours his heart out on this record and anyone that has ever grown up in the ghetto can feel dude and the somber flat trance beat helps put the saddened emotion in perspective.  It lays the conceptual blueprint for the tape and just when you think the intro is over, Mickey starts furiously spitting over a hard-hitting Dubstep beat.

“Hulk Hogan & Crack” is  a Rock N’ Roll infused track where Mickey raps about the fads that were popping off in the 80s and what was a bigger jump-off than the Hulkster and hard white. Even though the beat is odd, Factz wastes no time by rifling a barrage of beastly bars over the irregular beat. Mickey Mouse samples are inserted on the acoustic guitar-driven “Dreams of Money.” Mickey has been one of the most emotionally deep rappers for the last three years and he really proves it on this one. “Women put their bodies in celibate/but not celibate/waking up hell bent/feeling devilish/money is the root of all evil/so the message is/the relatives on your family tree can be your nemesis.” Take a moment to let that soak.

Mickey gets personal on “Memorabilia.” He goes hard about a minute-and-half and it would have been nice to hear him spit another verse, but rather he lets the suspenseful Electronic beat rock out. Factz opts to flow over Gnarls Barkley’s “Smiley Faces” instrumental on “3^rd 3Y3.” He cleverly expounds on the negativity that plagues society over the positively jubilant Dangermouse instrumental.

Further proof that Trance and Hip-Hop are a match made in heaven is evident on the title track “Mickey Mau5.” It’s not easy for any rapper to catch the rhythmically quick nature of the Dead Mau5’s “Raise Your Weapon” instrumental, but Mick is impressively exceptional on this joint.  If you’re a fan of Dubstep then “Taking Pics Of Girls Naked” will definitely be your favorite and if you’re not fan then you’ll quickly hit next. The original song, “Move For Me” by Kaskade and Dead Mau5 is classic, but throwing a Dub Step remix taints its timelessness.

The mixtape is extensive; 14 tracks to be exact and his innovative choice of instrumentals and concepts deserve applause. The mixtape is hot all around and you’ll quickly become a fan of Mickey’s lyricism and cleverness. Arguably the best mixtape released thus far from the Bronx wordsmith and the way he slaughtered these Trance instrumentals make him somewhat of an innovator. Rappers will be swagger jacking soon for sure.

3.75/5