MP3 Anti-Crew Presents: Dat's Wassup Mix Tape - HIP HOP/RAP: Hip Hop
An overall display of good music with a true love for HipHop culture and a balance between conscious and feel good tracks. Guaranteed to make your head bang.
16 MP3 Songs
HIP HOP/RAP: Hip Hop, HIP HOP/RAP: Alternative Hip Hop
Details:
REVIEW
By da bookman (John Book) on March 19, 2007 - 10:19pm.
Anti-Crew are back, not with a proper full length album, but with a "mix tape"-type function. In other words, you could call Dat''s Wassup!!! a teaser for what they have planned later in the year. What I liked about these guys before is how their lyrics and music together sounds right. What I can''t stand are people who just slap any kind of verbal junk over hot and steamy beats, or sloppy beats over well written words and it just sounds like a hot mess. These guys, representing the Kansas City hip-hop scene, know how to do things right and I''m glad these guys haven''t given up for the sake of being crunkier.
Their sound is much tighter this time around, not that it was sloppy before (because it wasn''t), but if anyone had any doubts that they weren''t ready to take their careers to the next level, this CD will remove them. "Keep Talkin''", which teams them up with Mac Lethal, has the feel of the music from the early 1990''s. You never really hear "down home" when it comes to hip-hop (and those that are called "down home" are anything but), but you feel as if you''ve entered a comfort zone with these guys, and they can do no wrong, as Anti-Crew''s DJ Eternal demonstrates:
So you say I don''t look like a rapper
My pants don''t sag, and you ain''t never seen me wear my hat backwards
Anyone can dress and play actor
Until your shit is mastered, looks don''t matter
I see you posted up in your fresh new gear
Trying to look fly like the next dude here
But I don''t got to try ''cause I already am
Center-stage, fly as fuck with a mic in my hand
You rhymin'' in your ride while I rule in the booth
I''m pressing CD''s, you bought gold for your tooth
You walkin'' and you talk like you got something to prove
But you ain''t gained shit, man, you got nothing to lose
What I like about their writing style is how they can talk the talk, but never overstep their boundaries. If it''s not what they''re about, they''re not going to talk about it. If it''s a fantasy tale, they''ll let you know. What they''ll also let you know is how it is in KC, as they do in "KC Shuffle" with Joe Good, Approach, Brother Of Moses, Lucid, Qan, Reach, and Ubiquitous. It''s all about the battle of words and wit, but they manage to keep their egos in check for the spirit of the song, which lets listeners know the KC hip-hop scene is not to be fucked with.
This mix tape could have easily been released as a proper Anti-Crew album. If this is just something to throw out to the fans in the meantime, the world may not be ready for what they''re currently putting together. It''s dangerous.
BIO
While a part of a larger six man group, FlareThaRebel and DJ Eternal stood out on stage. Noticed because of their chemistry together and obvious passion for music the duo was immediately recognized for their raw talent. Once their original group dissembled, Flare and Eternal hit the ground running and formed Anti-Crew. Within a year, the two released their first professionally pressed full length album, "The Progressive Movement: A Step Forward", which received outstanding reviews in the Kansas City Star, The Pitch, Columbia Chronicle, as well as https://www.tradebit.com.
Flare and Eternal are also known to compliment each others style to a fine key. As well as showcasing his skill on the turntables live and on record, DJ Eternal handles the majority of the group''s production, raps along side FlareThaRebel, and even plays the guitar during certain songs of Anti-Crew''s live set. FlareThaRebel, the lead MC/vocalist, has been quoted as a "compelling storyteller" and his lyrical versatility enables him to balance Anti-Crew''s tracks between a vast range of appealing themes and concepts making them, as quoted, "less monochromatic than other conscious rap groups".
With a perseverant spirit, Anti-Crew has continued their success performing at many venues in and outside of their local scene, as well as opening for the Scribble Jam Tour, opening for Fatlip of Pharcyde, excelling to the semi-finals of the Emergenza Music Festival Tournament in Chicago, IL, and being recognized as one of Kansas City''s 30 top artists under age 30 by the Kansas City Star. Anti-Crew has even broken into an international market selling CD''s in Japan as well as in the states.
Without a doubt, FlareThaRebel and DJ Eternal''s drive for their career in music and natural talent will continue to win over fans and press. As quoted, "Anti-Crew''s work ethic has awed the scene (KCMO). Even among the ranks of professionals twice their age, it would be hard to find anyone as determined or sure of themselves."
REVIEW
"Dat''s Wassup is more laid-back, lighthearted and, in a sense, mature, than The Progressive Movement...[The CD] also shows that [Flare] and [Eternal] really know how to make music... To cite just a couple of examples, "Gangsta Coat," featuring Reach and Lucid (under the aliases Get''n Bread Sanford and Benny Brock), is a hilarious sendup of the idea that everything that happens in a gangster rapper''s life is gangsta. During the chorus, Eternal (a pencil-thin white boy) busts out a pretty mean Lil John-style What? Ayyy! On the nonjoke tip, "KC Shuffle" brings together seven top-notch local rappers to record pretty much the definitive love letter to Kansas City. And the eight tracks that showcase only Flare and Eternal, rapping in their trademark spitback (i.e., "duet") style — those are badass, too. It sounds great in the car."
-Jason Harper, The Pitch (KCMO)