DJ Drama & Cookin Soul - The Notorious B.I.G. Tribute

This registers pretty much as the best annual death anniversary ode to the Notorious one that I saw floating around this year. I mean I love all the "best of" mixes, but let's face it, if it ain't the one Mister Cee did way back or the one Mike Nice and Doo Wop put together a few years ago than doing a compilation style mix of Big's best music ain't really gonna stack up in 09'. It's all just been done already. I'm just starting to prefer the DJ's that take a fresh approach to Big's music and utilize all those acapellas he left behind to construct new blends and pair a posthumous performance with music from contemporary artist's of the highest integrity. A good example of the new way to approach a Biggie tribute mix is what Mick Boogie and Terry Urban were able to do with that excellent "Unbelievable" mixtape from a couple years ago....you remember, the tape with the really dope oil painting of Big on the front. At any rate, yeah, it's time for some new ideas about how to do a tribute to the black Frank White....As much as I can be heard yelling "leave the artist's music alone", it's just inevitable that most people won't and the remixes and re-workings will continue to pour in. So as the old adage states, "If you can't beat em', join em'".....lol, while I understand that many of these new attempts at homage will stink so bad that Big will be able to catch a whiff of the stench up in heaven, I have also opened my mind to the fact that some of these more unconventional mixes can and will be pretty good as more talented DJ's and producers undertake the task of making them....

When it comes to unusual pairings I've seen, the one that couples southern mixtape purveyor DJ Drama and Spanish, sample based production trio Cookin Soul has to be thee most unexpected of 09' so far. Unexpected as it is, this tribute that finds Drama playing his familiar role of host and Big Size, Milton and Zock re-working a host of the same samples used on many a Biggie classic, actually beams with promise.

Inventive and aspiring, the spirit in which this Tribute to the late great Brooklyn emcee is much brighter than most undertaken to date........Ambitious as it is to try and re-do what the great minds of legendary producers like D.Dot, Easy Mo Bee, DJ Premier, Nashiem Myrick and Lord Finesse did so well the first time around, it is but only inevitable that this project would be overall, pretty hit or miss....nevertheless, the "hits" that are produced are indeed the stuff of mixtape magic....Amongst the 20 all new, original features is a strong performance from Grafh who channels Biggie's hardcore essence for "Things Done Changed", a dynamic lyrical performance from J Leaguer Chaundon as he delves into "Who Shot Ya" and Jean Grae's interesting take on a revamped "Hypnotize".

For all the better looks that this Tribute tape provides, Freakey Zeeky, Amanda Diva and Nipsey Hussle do a good job of overshadowing them through their novice, if not shotty skills. I think that it would've better served this tape to have only recruited artist's that were somewhat in the same lane as Biggie was to rhyme.....Another bleek point was the less than astounding job real life Biggie cohort Lil' Cease did jumping on the new version of the holy grail of Hip-Hop hustling tracks "Ten Crack Commandments"......While the emceeing aspect was a bit in question, for the most part the beats were highly creative and engaging. As always the soul vibe that the Spaniard's from Valencia shoot for so much is present throughout. They did a lot to elevate their profile here.

-BIG D O









http://www.cookinsoul.com/CSDRAMABIG.zip