Big Mike & Max B: Quarantine

I have to applaud artists like Max B, Stat Quo and Charles Hamilton for attacking this mixtape game with a passion that hasn’t been seen since that carpenter that got lashed 40 times and then had to carry those two big pieces of wood that he was eventually nailed to was breathing.

Now my previous beef with Max was his singing and mumbling on records. Dude is singing his heart out on these hooks trying to emulate the success of Ja Rule or Bone Thugs (when 50 started singing hooks his career went downhill). But on joints like “Oww Oww Oww” it’s obvious that his style is his Achilles heel. Bad singing on the hook and mumbling on his verse. The few times I could understand his words like on “PD5” his rhymes “cross my path, bitch/he had me confused/I put him down in the casket – drastic/measures I be takin’ when you bitches put my back against the wall/fuckers be tryin’ to blackball/got a fat drawer with nothing but cash in it/stash crack in it/thought I lost but I’m back in it/heavy in the streets shit/still on my 1 and 2/I’m ‘bout to punish you/better put on your runnin’ shoes/ow!” just didn’t do it for me.

He also went on to confuse me with “West Coast Freestyle.” The beat didn’t necessarily have that West Coast funk and he didn’t mention any left side landmarks. Now “Cocktail Party” had that West Side G’d up vibe that a dude could groove to. But while his singing is mediocre when it’s on, when it’s not it’s just horrible. On “Gimme Slaws” he sounded like he was submitting a track to Britney Spears. It was killing me like a real Britney Spears track.

If Max is seriously banking his whole rapping career on singing out of tune, he’s got his work cut out for him. He had his moments when he was amusing or funny, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find an audience that’ll take his music seriously enough to put “Ballin’” money in his pockets. When he does actually rap he sometimes sounds like he’s mumbling, and that’s not the best way to hook hip-hop fans either. The mixtape wasn’t a complete weed plate, it had some listenable joints, but not enough to convince me that this dude can contribute timeless music to the game.-The Infamous O

Hottest Joint: “Take The Game”

Weakest Joint: “Gimme Slaws”