Stat Quo:Quo City

Stat Quo’s made me a believer with his last few mixtapes. His southernplaylistic style is parallel to none in the game right now. While T.I. was making motivational songs for the youth hoping to get a more lenient sentence and Lil Wayne was somehow crowned the king of ATL even though he ain’t from there (I heard he’s the heir to the NY throne too. Go figure), Stat has quietly been perfecting his skill and from the sounds of his latest offering, it’s Curt Hennig time!!

His ability to sync grown man/gangsta lyrical content with soulful and hardcore production is exactly what an old school head like me eats up. Really, what more could I ask for? This mixtape was so hot that I found myself using it as a hand warmer (It’s like 20 degrees out this mutha). Eli Manning should’ve been packing one of these at the Giants game last Sunday. Then maybe we would’ve won. But that’s neither here nor there.

From beginning to end, Stat was on fire. Just listen to the jewels he dropped on the Maliguti produced “Get Up Again.” “This is the world in a nutshell, written on a page/born for the stage – engage/married to the ways of the hustle and slave to the pay/tell my son there’ll be better days/I shed a tear for the year six-four, but ’08 to ‘012/looking at the President’s like looking at myself/head high, imagine how he felt/looking in the eyes of people who need help…” As deep as a Langston Hughes poem… or Lil Kim’s p*ssy (She said it, not me). And the hook to “Liars” is just as real and potent as Nas’ “Poison.” Just in a more entertaining way what with talk of the Easter Bunny and Santa and whatnot. But real nonetheless.

Meanwhile that “It Ain’t Fair” joint had me Ric Flairing it every few bars like “Whoo!!!” And that Billie Drease Williams produced “Intermission” was filled with more clever lines than a season of Family Guy (I’m a fan. Sue me). “I keep it player like Too $hort/cause life’s too Webster to get caught…” HA! Dopeness! And did dude take a shot at his former record label on “In California”?

Me personally, I grew up on that real street hip-hop music when dudes weren’t test-tube MCs and rhymed with purpose and opinions, and to me that’s exactly what Stat is doing. So naturally I feel that QuoCity is the truth. I really think this mixtape is as close to being a classic as they come. The way he took his feelings and thoughts and manifested it over dope tracks and freestyles. From the intro to the outro, I was loving this jumpoff.

Everybody’s talking about T.I., Luda, Jeezy and OutKast holding down the ATL, but they really need to understand that Stat is raising the status quo himself as far as street music goes. Dude is just ridiculous with his style, flow and lyrics saying sh*t like, “I hate snitches like Jews hate Adolf,” come on!! How clever and realer can you get with a metaphor? Compare and contrast what he meant there, please! I’m co-signing this man hardbody. He may not sell like the aforementioned MCs, but his music can definitely hold its own against theirs.-The Infamous O

Hottest Joint: "Get Up Again"

Weakest Joint: “Suck My Dick (And even that joint was type poppin’)"