Charles Hamilton: My Brain Is Alive

Three mixtapes in a matter of days within each other? His brain must be alive. I haven’t seen this kind of work ethic since the late great Makaveli. But that was understandable. Pac was making all those records to fulfill his contract ASAP so he could go out and be his own boss instead of answering to Suge. Charles seems to have a different goal in mind. Seems like he’s trying to show and prove that he’s one of the more eclectic MCs of the new school.

Speaking of which, this installment in his mixtape run seems to have a school days angle to it. He got joints named “Grounded For Life, “ (Cool song), “Freshman Orientation” (pretty dope joint) and “High School Reunion,” where homie used a sample from “The Sign” by Ace of Base. That was one of thee most un-hip-hop songs ever made. This could’ve been a worse disaster than when I went on a blind date and shorty looked like Big Worm after claiming to look like Nia Long (VERY true story). But the mad scientist prevails again and was able to craft a hot sounding joint.

But that was as awkward as it got on this mixtape. Every other joint sounded like regular hip-hop music, which is what I need in my life. “Talent Entrance” felt like it was in the same vein as Lupe’s “Superstar” and had a beat so soulful and moving that it made me want to pause it and get bent off of Jack Daniels before continuing to listen to it so I could get a true feeling of it. On “Based On Feeling” Charlie boy got down with a Brand Nubian Sadat X kind of style and flow that sounded nastier than a Dirty Sanchez in a sauna.

The soulful samples and lyrical lacing continued on “An Angel’s Aneurism” where the Funktastik’s “Honey” sample was used to create a suave beat where C stated, “Jay said, ‘I jack/I rob/I sin,’ I mean I mack/I-Pod, 3rd-Gen/cause I rap like I got I-Gen/the digital liquor that I share with my friends/my bad, I rock/nice chin/well I jab/I box/Tyson/try jabs/I block/I win/I’m Zab/why not? Fight him.” This kid’s been feelin’ froggy lately and he giving out them honey smacks (sweet rhymes and coincidentally the name of a cereal which featured a frog on the box).

While ITA was the reverb sampled mixtape, this one tilted more towards a soulful sampled sound. It was probably a mixtape that should’ve been sponsored by Kanye’s Good Music label because it was just that, good music. It’s no secret that CH can rhyme his ass off, but when it’s accompanied with pure sounding hip-hop production, then his style shines and puts him in a league of his own. So far he’s 2 for 3. He’s on a roll. Can he pull off a sweep with Every Charles Hamilton’s Ex-Girlfriend’s Nightmare? Y’all see…

Hottest Joint: “Talent Entrance”

Weakest Joint: “Get On The Bandwagon”