J-Love Presents...Joell Ortiz - Who's Nice?

Well, here we are, another summer gone and we all brace ourselves for the impending winter months. Just in time for the fall doldrums and the painstaking seasonal chores of having to wear more clothing, waiting in the bitter cold for the ubiquitously late metro bus and staying inside entirely too often, J-Love drops a crazy ass new mixtape to help remind us that winter is still the best season for bumpin' good ole' New York, boom bap hip-hop. Yeah, sitting atop freezing cold plastic seats on the city bus while you try your hardest to ignore the vagrant who's in a drunken stooper across from you staring intently at your neck is definitely a hard thing to do. Luckily your an old vet and you know that nothing zones you out in tough winter situations like an interesting and talented lyricist. Joell Ortiz is just that lyricist and if you don't know who duke is, where the fuck have you been the last 2 years?

Joell's lyrics do provide a nice escape from the everyday bullshit that we all routinely endure, but even if I slept on bags of money, Halle Berry was the face I rolled over and woke up to every morning and life in general was fucking lovely, I'd still mess wit Joell's music. He's inexhaustibly talented and at times he displays flashes of brilliance. Flashes that many say are very reminiscent to the late, great Christopher Rios AKA Big Pun. While I am a lot more cautious when it comes to the incessant Pun comparisons, I will admit that Joell does have that great character and personality in him that does remind me a lot of Pun. For the most part however, they're two totally different guys and emcees, and Joell would be the first one to tell you that; Another reason why I like what he's about.

I'm assuming that Mr. Ortiz is looking to bounce back from his somewhat unfortunate Aftermath signing and subsequent release by generating what landed him a deal at Dre's label in the first place: Street buzz. Yes, Joell is very apt at shaping a nice niche' for himself in the minds of many a underground head as well as battle rap enthusiasts. His challenge now I suppose would be to maintain that oh so coveted status and maybe grab a few new fans. Well, I can attest that he's taking the hardcore approach and sticking to his roots. Anyone that's featured on a J-Love tape is going to get some well deserved attention from the real heads. We know how J-Love rolls and it ain't with no clowns or so-so rappers. He's a real DJ and he's done good by putting out a tape with Joell. It's not really surprising though....J-Love gets around to all of our favorites at some point or another....having done tapes with Tragedy, AZ, Kool G Rap, Cormega, Guru, The Wu and many others, J-Love has proven he's one of the guys that won't turn his back on the true school. That makes for a perfect marriage on "Who's Nice", because Joell is the modern day version of what many of us used to consider a "great" prospect and J-Love has always worked well with young, hungry and talented artists.

There's some great material on here and some of Joell's best joints ever like "125 Grams Pt. 5" and "125 Grams Pt. 4" lead the way. "Legend Of Pun" provides a nice tribute to an inspirational figure in Joell's life and the lives of so many other Latinos and displays Ortiz's humility. Coupled with some of his illest guest spots this is a worthy "best of" type of mixtape, but I can't hide my disappointment with the lack of exclusive material. In Fact, the only true "exclusive" that I heard on this was the insanely good "Night In My P's" Remix ft. Big Noyd that's produced by J-Love.

-BIG D O



01. 125 Pt 5 Man I'm 05:17
02. Memories 02:21
03. Night In My P's Remix (Feat Big Noyd)prod. by J-Love 02:42
04. Lil Fun 03:03
05. Hip Hop Remix (Feat Jadakiss & Saigon) 03:20
06. 4 In A Clip 04:28
(Feat Nino, Bless, Kool G Rap & Styles)
07. Stomp Thru (Feat Smiff & Wessun & Ruck) 03:12
08. Chyna White (Feat Kool G Rap) 02:31
09. 50 Shots (Rip In Sean Bell) 02:25
10. Relax 03:06
11. Ups And Downs 03:13
12. 125 Pt 4 The Finale 05:41
13. Letter To Obama 01:37
14. Here The Next 02:05
15. 125 Pt 1 The Bio 05:25
16. Chances 03:19
17. Legend Of Big Pun 05:57
18. Doing It (Feat Gloria Velez) 03:29
19. Warfare (Feat Joe Buddens) 02:43
20. Brooklyn Lets Go 02:55
(Feat Mad Rapper, Maino, Red Cafe & Papoose
21. Summertime In Bk 03:27
22. You Lose 01:26
23. Tag 03:13
24. We Run Ny 02:27
(Feat Tru Life, Tony Touch & Lumidee)

http://rapidshare.com/files/141473432/Joell_Ortiz-Whos_Nice_Hosted_By_J-Love-Bootleg-2008-.rar