Unless you’re a straight commercial hip-hop consumer, the name Serius Jones should ring more bells than Anita Ward in the '70s. For the past few years the New Jerus native’s made a name for himself by ripping mics and MCs alike from Fight Klub to well… Fight Klub. Aside from a few street DVD interviews and youtube postings, the battle tested MC has never shined under the mainstream spotlight. Though he’s dismantled countless rappers in countless competitions, and even had Charles Hamilton declare defeat in the club way before Briana straight “Fayard Nicholased” his jaw outside of the club (I’d rather have a bare-knuckle fist fight with Tito Trinidad than air out that woman’s private life), Serius was well, never taken serious by commercial audiences.

But then again are they really ready to listen to a joint like “Keep It Funky” and hear a real nucca say, “I’m not a Martian, I’m an earthling/I be up blowing trees before the birds sing/I spit scriptures but I don’t do the church thing/I got the game tied up, I’m first string/playground rules, you push me, I swing/you kicking them monkey bars, nigga you can’t hang/if you seen what I saw you’d know there’s ups and downs/so we get dizzy while we let the merry go round!”? That’s just a small example of how clever Jones can be with the rhymes when he’s just riding a track.

On other joints like “The Hawk,” “Jersey” and “Ain’t It True” his rhymes are more focused on painting a picture whether it’s on what a banger can do when he’s in a certain state of mind; how hard life in his city was; or outright questioning dudes demeanor in the hood. Then he just went crazy with it on “Multi,” and “Hardbody.”

Regardless of how commercially popular or not this man is or becomes it doesn’t take away from the fact that he can battle and put most of today’s SoundScan sonic boomers to shame. And everyone knows that when he starts rhyming it really isn’t a laughing matter, unless he’s cuttin’ ass on ya. A clever lyricist with a distinct voice and style, Serius has all the tools that help him standout amongst his peers and this mixtape was a good example of what he’s capable of. But as consistent as his flow was throughout the mixtape it didn’t sound too versatile. Not to mention almost every song he made sounded like a battle rap. Even on “Gimme That Love” where he was talking about the opposite sex and destiny, he sounded like he was spitting it hard right in his shorty’s grill! Be easy, dunn! First Talib got smacked up. Then Charles got rocked like Dwayne Johnson. What will they say about you and YOUR wifey? “Good thing he was wearing his vest…”??-The Infamous O

Hottest Joint: “Keep It Funky”

Weakest Joint: “Invincible”

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