As I preluded to on last week’s rant of a writeup, this week’s Monday Mixtape will just consist of rap. If you’re heading to the exits, I would just say to always keep an open mind to all music and try to find something beautiful in what (NO DON’T CLOSE THE DOOR!)…

The mixtape starts with Lushlife, a rapper/producer from Philly. I first heard of him with a track with Killer Mike, “This Ecstatic Cult.” But “Totally Mutual Feeling,” the track that leads this mix is one of my favorite rap songs this year. His other track in the mixtape, “Strawberry Mansion,” has a somewhat (since he’s from Philly) of a surprise cameo from Freeway, the man the myth the legend (sorry, I know he released a lot of albums since) who did such classics (with Jay and Beanie) as this gem in 2003:

The mixtape ends with “Toynbee Suite,” a seven minute track that feels like a play playing out through the acts as the song goes through three parts. Dig it!

If you haven't watched Mr. Robot, I would highly recommend Season 1 as it was my favorite season of television since True Detective Season 2 (JOKING! Stop swearing. It was a joke. I know you're still mad. It was Season 1). I'm still trying to figure out where Season 2 is going (and these hour and a half episodes are sort of weird considering we haven't really gone anywhere - Game of Thrones anyone? JOKING. Stop swearing.).

WHAT I WAS TRYING TO SAY was that the bright spot of Season 2 for me has been Joey Bada$$' amazing character, who over the first few episodes has started watching Seinfeld and can't get enough. It's great comedy for such a dark show as he analyzes Kramer and Constanza, and he's been surprisingly good, one of the better rap/actors I've seen in a while. "Devastated" is one of his best tracks since his earlier days (back when I was screaming about this dude's talent in 2010 on his first and still my favorite Mixtape by him).

Ladies and Gentlemen, Schoolboy Q! I have loved Schoolboy Q since he released “There He Go,” easily one of my most played rap songs in the past few years:

So anyways, Q can be an acquired taste because he’s raw as hell and misogynistic (See: “Big Body,” mostly every lyric, particularly the yelling by Tha Dogg Pound), but if you can see through that stuff (and admit that without the lyrics, Big Body is an AWESOME song and catchy, how good is that chorus??), his new album is one of the best, thoughtful, and insightful (see: “Neva Change”) albums of the year.

See: the two verses from "Neva CHange":

The sidewalk chalk
The block stay hot
Paranoid, the cop that keep my gear in park
Pull me out the car to give me black thought
But fuck it, this shit's all kinda player
This shit my mama flavor
This that raised by your granny, pistols and Now & Laters
Your pops was way too busy, missin' your mom's labor
Grew up just like your daddy
To baggin' baggies in alleys
To where the streets is your family
Gettin' blurred by the same cop
Go to jail for a year and come home
Two of your n***** dropped
You know how that feelin' feel
What to feel when it's gettin' real
More bullets to go around
Come jump in this water, n****
You still with your mama livin'
30 with no ambition
Your kid got no pot to piss in
You sayin' some n**** fake
You're selfish and sad, n**** you're lame
You hatin' on another man's success
Because the n***** blessed and wouldn't let you finesse
You got the game all twisted
You're leechin' worse than these ladies
Your inner n**** ain't aging
Reason the hood stay shady

And then the last verse:

Still our motive be commas
And still my life isn't promised
Still nervous as drivers
You see them lights get behind us
They pull me out for my priors
Won't let me freeze 'fore they fire
You say that footage a liar
They want my flow in the dryer
I'm at the top aimin' higher
My lawyers stay on retainer
When white folks point the finger
Place my neck on that hanger
Shit, no wonder we riot
N***** still killin' n*****
Child support killin' n*****
Cops enslavin' us n*****
Little girls killin' mothers
They treat their kid like a brotha
Fathers stuck with them lifers
Kept it real with his n*****
But left his kid for the suckas, shit no wonder we bang
Damn shame, mane, some things will never change

Yeah, so his words > my words.

The final track from him was THat Part with Kanye (which I yelled about last week because I think Kanye’s verse here is taking some 2 Chainz flow, but maybe it’s just me). The beat is totally Schoolboy - a hazey whistle walking through an abandoned house of mirrors over a deafening bass. Nobody sounds like this dude. Check the whole album because it’s all really good.