Hello this is your captain OG D.a.e. speaking, welcome on board the spaceship that will take you on a journey through the Hip Hop Galaxy, Mixtape Solar System. Blast off is scheduled for every Wednesday, please make sure your seat is the way most comfortable to you, do not hesitate to smoke, drink or eat. There are only 3 rules on board this ship:

1. Score 1-3: don’t bother getting the mixtape.

2. Score 4-7: it’s average, worth listening to if you’re a fan of the DJ or artist.

3. Score 5-10: definitely worth a spin. Dope class.

Thank you for your attention. Now. Enjoy the ride.

Papoose- Internationally Known

For those of you who are waiting for the Papoose debut album: this shit if for you. The opinions on Pap are divided; some see him as the hero of the underground and have faith in the man while others criticize him for his supposed lack of emotion and question his MC skills. Whatever you think of him, he ain’t an artist that you can just walk by indifferently. Lyrically this mixtape is just what you’d expect from Pap. Fast and angry sounding deliveries dominate this release, no real surprise here. The lyrics are mostly revolving around Pap’s deal with Jive Records, and you can expect some really good songs, with “Fruits of Labor” and “When the shots ring out” featuring Busta Rhymes being only a couple. Hot Rod, Balance, Thug-a-cation, Al Capo, Tommy Gunz, and Jay Soul appear on the tape as well, adding some flavor to Papoose’s trademark flow. If you like hype beats, you won’t be disappointed with this release. Real good producers like Hi Tek and DJ Kay Slay (obviously) delivered the beats and they did just alright. You get 18 full length tracks of fat bassed up beats with some nice complex accents every now and then. All in all it’s a mixtape worth listening to, even if only to kill time waiting for “The Nacirema Dream”. But then again, it’s a Papoose mixtape; nothing more and nothing less. Don’t expect it will change your life or opinion about Pap, just give it a spin if you wanna tilt your head a lil’ bit. Score: 6.5

War Music – 50 Cent vs. Cam’ron

The feud between Cam’ron and 50 Cent is probably one of the most interesting things happening in hip hop right now. It’s probably no coincidence that everything that involves 50 gets the most media attention, especially when it brings more reasons for the haters. While waiting for another episode of “50 Against The World”, put this lil’ thing on and crank that volume knob way up. This is a real treat for those of you who paid attention to the 50 vs. Cam beef. On this mixtape you get all the diss tracks released by both artists, plus some other songs like 50’s “How 2 Rob”. Props to DJ WhiteOwl for the idea; the tracks are set up alternately, which makes the whole thing sound almost like a freestyle battle. Another good thing about this release is that all the diss tracks are in one place, if you’re interested you don’t have to waste time looking for them on the internet or anywhere else. Basically that’s all there is to it, a good idea and a must-have for both 50 Cent and Cam’ron fans. And even if you don’t care about them, give it a spin, because there are some real dope songs on it. Score: 8.

What’s New Vol. 3

This is supposed to be a selection of the best new track out there, right? Well, it’s definitely a very unstable mix. I don’t know what the DJ’s motivation to put these specific tracks on a mixtape was, but I’m sure he had his reasons… Honestly this thing is just plain weird. If you download this thing you’ll have 27 tracks. If you play them in order, at first they will annoy you. The first couple of songs are so annoying; you’ll want to turn it off. The beats are lyrics are something that can give you a strong headache, if you don’t like listening to random electronic noises. If you survive the first several songs, it gets a little better. The beats calm down a bit and lyrics get an intelligence boost. Fine, but it still ain’t good enough. Why? Because the last couple of songs on this mixtape, which are actually quite good, cant save the whole thing from being wack. Seriously, my thesis is that DJ LRM got high somewhere around the middle of track selection, Chilled down a bit, got better tracks. Seriously, there might be a method to this madness. Maybe it was done on purpose, that the songs are going from shit to dope? You’ll never know, but know this: I don’t think this tape was worth my time and I bet it ain’t worth yours either. Only the tracks #18-#27 are worth a try. Score: 2.5

DMX – Dawn of the Dog

Can you bark like a dog? Can you make all them crazy sounds with your mouth? Do you call the waitress in a restaurant a bitch? No? Well DMX is all that and more. “Dawn of the Dog” is not just your regular mixtape, it’s more like a ‘the best of’ album. And that’s why it’s great. You can expect to hear all the best known DMX songs on this one and be real happy about it. The DJ has done a great job putting this tape together; the track order deserves recognition especially. It may sound weird, but the way they are organized actually makes sense. You won’t hear a mellow song followed by a hype bass speaker buster. The ‘tension’ grows with every song, so they compliment each other. There is some dialogue from X’s movie “Exit Wounds” between some of the songs, and that makes the whole mix even better, a tension reliever if you will. This mixtape could very well be a major official release. So who is it for? Definitely for any DMX fan, and also for people who love having positive, energetic music playing loud on their audio systems. Bravo DJ Ames. Score: 9

That’s all for this week, remember you can get these and a lot more other free mixtapes on www.datpiff.com. One.