John BookFor starters, the cover looks good, a Photoshop-type manipulation of some of the best MC’s in hip-hop today, gathering for what promises to be a hot mix CD by “L.A.’s Mixtape King”. It says DJ Warrior is the “Best West Coast Mixtape DJ Of The Year”, and also promotes the fact that the CD has “exclusives” and “unreleased & new jointz”. With photos of Kanye West, Twista, Talib Kweli, Xzibit, Jay-Z, E-40, Method Man, Nas, and David Banner, one almost wants to believe that this is one of the hottest mixes ever made. EVER.
I am not too impressed by a “DJ” who seems to get all of his material from MP3’s, and poor quality MP3’s at that. A number of the songs on this CD, including Talib Kweli’s “Lonely People” (noted for its use of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby”), had been circulating on the internet for a few weeks. The sound quality of the overall mix is uneven at times, and the concept of “mix tape” is a misnomer. It’s not a mix tape in the sense that it is a seamless megamix, it sounds like a sampler CD with excerpts from various songs, and a lady in between each song telling you who and what you’re listening to.
If you are going to call yourself a DJ, then by all means represent the culture and your skills. This is a “mix tape” of the old variety, a simple compilation. Maybe on other tapes and CD’s he gets to show off what he’s about, but I’m not hearing them on this.