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"Hidden Darts Part
Two" (DJ J-Love)
The mix-CD (still referred to as 'mixtapes') offers priceless
exposure intended to serve the inner city streets as well as the
suburbs. Do the artists receive compensation directly? Is every
song approved for release? Who the hell cares - all that matters
is making sure those CD-R's offer some hot shit for hip hop
purists. It can serve as the renegade outlet for rappers who
make a living selling millions of wack records to overweight
white chicks; hell, some of the illest tracks 50 Cent and
Cam'Ron have dropped has been courtesy of the mixtape.
Hidden Darts Part II opens with Ghost barking in DJ J-Love's
phone and actually proves to be one of the more important
elements within the overall mix. Rather than the awful,
woofer-shredding howls from the mixtape host, J-Love uses
snippets of the message, sprinkling them throughout the 30-track
mix. It's a horrible hip hop habit most notably adopted by DJ
Kid Capri back in the day, and most recently taken to new levels
of annoyance by Funkmaster Flex as well as DJ Kay Slay, who also
released another Ghost-devoted disc a few months back called No
Pork on My Fork. But here J-Love shines the spotlight solely on
the marquee attraction with a seamless yet versatile mix that
offers nothing but the best from Tony Starks.
Run is a murderous opening track and couldn't be a more suitable
street mix introduction, and lost B-sides like Drummer with
Method Man, the reggae-tinged New Splash and Gorilla Hood should
go down as some of Shaolin's finest. Ironman debut tracks
Motherless Child and the grimy Marvel provides a nice wrap-up,
as well as Thank You, the hidden track from The W. Set it Off
'03 is a new lyrical twist on the old Big Daddy Kane classic,
and Ghost offers street-meets-club cuts On da Radio and
Afterparty, also featuring Meth. Were it not for that goddamn
Ghostface track, which also happens to seriously hinder the
official Pretty Toney release, Hidden Darts Part II could have
been the best Wu-affiliated album since, well, Supreme
Clientele. Check www.J-Loveonline.com (or eBay of course) to
scoop it. 9/10
Reviewed By Chris Conti
May 16th, 2004 |
