I posted the trailer for this a few weeks back and today the Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero mixtape officially dropped. I’ll be peeping this on my way back to NYC and should have a review shortly, but feel free to download and share your thoughts in the meantime.

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Atlanta, Georgia has a rich history in the hip-hop game. It’s been the breeding ground of some of the South’s most notable contributors to the hip-hop industry- as the birthplace to legendary groups such as Outkast and Goodie Mob or chart-topping solo acts like Ludacris and Young Jeezy. The Atlanta area has always embraced a variety of sounds in their hip-hop landscape, while never allowing the music scene to be defined by single sub-genre of hip-hop. The city’s ability to constantly reinvent its signature sound is the reason Atlanta artists are consistently finding success in the modern music environment.

One artist that is looking to continue ATL’s storied tradition of developing hit makers is B.o.B a/k/a Bobby Ray or just Bob if you want to keep it simple. While B.o.B has been making noise in underground hip-hop circles across the U.S. for a few years, his recent mixtape, Who the F#*k is B.o.B?, suggests that he’s preparing to familiarize himself with a wider audience and is ready to re-introduce the world to the sound of Atlanta hip-hop.

If I had to describe B.o.B in one word after listening to his latest offering it would have to be: versatile. There isn’t much Bob can’t do. On Who the F#*K is B.o.B?, the artist displays his ability to produce his own material (and do it well) on tracks like “Double Bubble” or “East-Side Tales”, the lyrical ability to go bar for bar with proven Atlanta heavyweights like T.I. and Ludacris on “I’m Dat Ni**a” and “On Top of the World” or displaying his greatest strength throughout the album- his ability to create some of the most melodic and mesmerizing hooks the hip-hop industry has ever heard. I’m predicting that by the end of 2009, a B.o.B hook will have replaced auto-tuned vocals as a key ingredient in the (not so) secret formula for crafting a successful hip-hop record.

This mixtape, at times, will have you swearing that Bob is somehow channeling Big Boi and Andre 3000, as there are clear similarities to be drawn between the newcomer and Outkast. But Bob’s style is 100% authentic and sounds more like what Outkast would have sounded like had they leaned left instead of right after Aquemini.

Overall, Who the F#*k is B.o.B? is a project I highly recommend to anyone who has recently found themselves complaining about a lack of originality in hip-hop. The mixtape truly offers something for everyone. It features a well-rounded selection of tracks, great use of sampling and B.o.B’s uncanny ability to make a decent record a hit with his hook-writing ability. This mixtape is extremely pleasing to the ears and has me thoroughly convinced that B.o.B will be one of the hip-hop industry’s biggest names very soon.

LOL!!! Now I can see why a couple of you are so heated about my review..given that it’s right there like a skull & crossbones on DatPiff! Sorry about that Charles. It’s on you to prove me wrong. Good luck.

Shout outs to DatPiff and CeleBully for showing love!

Maybe I just don’t get this new hipster rap trend. I don’t even like using the phrase hipster rap because I really don’t think this new sub-genre of hip-hop has been clearly defined. If the new mixtape from Harlem’s Charles Hamilton, Sonic the Hamilton, is supposed to represent this new movement- I’m not down with it.

Hamilton is an MC that has gained a heavy internet buzz over the past few months and become a favorite amongst bloggers, who give him enough praise that it could lead you to believe he’s already a power player in the hip-hop industry. He’s hard to miss with his flashy attire, usually highlighted by tones of hot pink and purple, and is generally pictured with a smug facial expression that can lead one to wonder what the kid has accomplished to make him so cocky.

I’ve been reluctant to explore Hamilton’s music, based off my natural instinct to resist something I feel someone is trying to force down my throat. I feel as though some of the new artists that are breaking out right now have earned their way into the big leagues, while others are the work of major label piggybacking that has diluted the talent pool.

With the blogs in a frenzy over the release of Sonic the Hamilton, I finally gave in and downloaded a copy- really hoping that I’d be asking for a late pass on this artist and beating myself up for being overly judgmental. Unfortunately for Hamilton, I feel more like a prophet than a hater right now.

Hamilton’s wordplay is your standard braggadocio lyricism that is common for NY hip-hop. His delivery is lazy and lacks the sort of punch needed to stand out over the sample-heavy beats and quirky sound effects that are commonly used throughout the mixtape.

As you may have figured out from the title, Hamilton has a strange obsession with Sonic the Hedgehog and the old Sega Genesis game system. I thought this fascination would be explained through some clever metaphors on the mixtape, which would allow me to understand why this dude wants to be a hedgehog. Nope. I’m still confused.

To Hamilton’s credit his lyricism isn’t bad and he is capable of stringing together a few clever bars, but overall he lacks the consistency and creativity in his rhymes that would have him competing with any well-known lyrical MC.

The conclusion I’ve drawn after listening to Sonic the Hamilton is that the hipster rap movement is nothing more than recycling of what we called backpack rap until about a month ago. The same people have traded in their backpacks and Ecko hoodies for Louis Vuitton man-purses and designer brand flannel.

The characteristic of both genres that I believe is going to remain the same is the lack of commercial viability for this type of sound. The major labels that are starting to hedge their bets on this movement should realize that artists like Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco, who have to be viewed as the elder statesman of the movement, are anomalies in the hip-hop industry that can’t be recreated through marketing. Most hip-hop fans are too smart for that.

If you’re really intent on checking out this new crop of talent that is buzzing in hip-hop; check out Wale or B.o.B. and unless you’ve been waiting for an MC to pop up that shares your passion for Sega and hedgehogs, go ahead and pass on Charles Hamilton.

When the announcement was made on Tuesday night that Ohio had been called as a victory for Barack Obama, I was overwhelmed with emotion not only because it assured an Obama victory, but because of the work that went in to shifting the political landscape of the state over the past four years.

The Ohio victory made me think back to 2004, when I was a college student at Ohio University attempting to use hip-hop’s power to drive people to the polls.

One idea that I implemented was The Ohio Battleground Mixtape. The concept was to gather politically charged material from hip-hop artists from all corners of Ohio and compile them into an official mixtape that was distributed online using Soundclick. I wanted to create an awareness both in Ohio and out-of-state of the issues on the minds of voters in Ohio within our hip-hop community- hoping that the message and concept may carry to other battleground states.

The project did not make a lot of noise upon release.

The lack of financing for a physical release was a major problem in getting exposure back then, which is a little strange to say now, but in 2004 it was a difficult task to rely simply on the internet for distribution of a free mixtape.

There was also a clear lack of organization between all the progressive groups working on the 2004 Election, which made forming the alliances needed to properly publicize this sort of project impossible. It was quite a contrast to the Obama campaign of 2008, which will be analyzed by scholars for hundreds of years. Instead, we had a million people running around working for way too many PAC’s- which were all under-funded and lacked a unified message besides “Go vote.” and “We hate George Bush.”

Looking back on the project now, I like to think that what I was doing at the time was setting the table to make history in 2008.

I took the results of the 2004 race hard because of the time I put into organizing voters in Ohio, only to have the State deliver a second term for George Bush. I questioned whether or not the minority vote, the youth vote or any other combination of voters could ever be strong enough to compete with the organization and financing of the Republican Party.

I knew changes were needed within the Democratic Party, but felt as though my euphoric vision of the party running a candidate myself and my peers could relate to was absurd. I blamed the party for alienating youth and minority voters by running weak candidates.

In a paper written for a Political Science class immediately after the Election of 2004 I made the following statement:

The young liberals need to seek out a candidate that is able to appeal to a broad spectrum of the voting population, while still focusing on youth based initiatives such as the cost of higher education and employment. We need to find a candidate that can defy the odds and win some of the Southern states that have traditionally voted Republican. Many will say this a battle we cannot win, but I believe that a candidate truly exists that embodies the values our generation is looking for, but this person has not stepped up and made their intentions clear of leading the Democratic Party into the future at this point in time.

If our generation is serious about putting “our guy” in office in 2008, the process needs to start now. The last thing most young people want to talk about now is politics, but this is also the most critical time to start to build a stronger movement in 2008. These same people who were so inspired to “Rock the Vote” or “Vote or Die” need to sit down together and figure out a strategy for building and shaping our own candidate for the next election. Somewhere buried inside the U.S. Congress, hiding in a State’s government or somewhere else in America’s political landscape there are suitable candidates for the Democratic Party that can be legitimate contenders in the next election if given the right support by our generation. We need to seek these people out and make them run for President.

I think when I wrote this I had Obama in mind because he was someone I had recently become familiar with. The final track of the Ohio Battleground Mixtape was not a hip-hop track from an Ohio artist. Instead, I decided to conclude the project with a speech that had inspired me during the 2004 Democratic National Convention from a little-known candidate for the U.S. Senate by the name of Barack Obama. I was memorized by the speech, the message that was being conveyed and mostly the amount of hope I felt from listening to this man talk and felt that his words, and not Kerry’s, would inspire more people to get involved in the 2004 campaign.

In under four years we have taken a hold of the Democratic Party and have put “our guy” in the White House. We organized, we dedicated ourselves and we showed up at the polls on Election Day.

This should serve as a reminder of how hard we worked to accomplish this goal and also as a blueprint for success in future elections. There’s no turning back now. We can’t blame the politicians for holding us back anymore because WE run the political landscape in America now and the only way that changes is if we give it back!

Below is the Ohio Battleground Mixtape 2004 in it’s entirety:

From Illroots:

If Jay-Z and Coldplay did an album together, it would sound a little something like this.
Mick Boogie and Terry Urban have teamed up with the likes of 9th Wonder, The Kickdrums, Cookin’ Soul, 6th Sense, Hasan Insane and many more to create this soon-to-be historic mixtape that is already Jay-Z approved.
Viva La Hova is here folks.

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-UPDATED

Hosted by DJ Green Lantern, Russell Simmons and Barack Obama

TRACKLIST

1. Intro
2. David Banner,Busta Rhymes,Talib Kweli “Black President” Rmx pt1 *
3. Barack Obama “Stand Up”
4. Nas Speaks on Politics
5. Styles P and Cassidy “Make It Out”
6. Jay-z Speaks “The American Dream”
7. Barack Obama “One Mic, One People”
8. Russell Simmons Speaks on Obama
9. Joe Budden,Twista,John Mayer “Waiting on the World to Change 2008″
10. Angie Martinez “Yes We Need A Mixtape!!”
11. Kanye West,Malik Yusef “Promised land
12. Wale,Rhymefest,Christina K, Royce 5′9 “Black President” RMX Pt2
13. Barack Obama “My Life”
14. Jay-z “Lick a Shot”
15. Russell Simmons on Change
16. Wyclef “Obama for President”
17. Charles Hamilton “The Moment”
18. Find ur Dreams (interlude)
19. George Bush’s Highlight Reel
20. Mikkey Halsted “King George”
21. Obama on Hip-Hop
22. Joel Ortiz feat Dante Hawkins “Letter To Obama”
23. Akon , U.M. “Aint No Sunshine”
24. Qadir, Dwayne (Invasion) “Its My Time
25. Johnny Polygon (Invasion),Amanda Diva “Colorblind”
26. Mavado “We Need Barack”
27. Jay-Z / Gabe Real “What We Need” (Speech)
28. Qadir “Yes We Can” Outro

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Spotted at Nah Right