Mixtape Review: Myke Pimp - Yuck Mouth

Mixtapes are a tricky thing to review, traditionally a mixtape meant a rough compilation of unpolished music by an artist. Most artists released mixtapes in hope of catching some producer's or record labels attention and having them offer a chance to work with the artist. But now the definition is blurred and means a whole lot of other things to different people. The other thing is mixtapes are released from all corners of the industry so its hard to keep up with them, but once in a while one mixtape catches your attention (Karma's Chasing Moments Mixtape) or is brought to your attention and you decide to take a listen to the project. Today will be sharing my views and thoughts on a mixtape that was brought to my attention a couple of days back.

The mixtape contains 13 tracks and will be doing a track by track review:

1. Yuck Mouth
The first track on the mixtape which also happens to be the title track opens to an engaging kind of instrumental. One of those instrumentals that puts emphasis on the vocals, it does not take attention away from the vocals. I love rap songs which focuses more on the vocals. The production is done well. On the track Myke is announcing his arrival into the rap game and he is warning all those artists that lean on gimmicks like auto tune and weak catchy rhymes that he is here to show them how to make real rap music. Daring!!. Nice Jam.

2. Anima (feat J. Nova)
The Skiri producer was in charge of the productions here and he did a commendable job. He structured the instrumental well and its sounding good. On this track Myke continues to state that he is here to be the best, he continues to stamp his dominance on the rap game and challenging other rappers out there. Love the hook on this track, its daring, its bold and it's superb; "I'll transform on you niggas call me optimus Myke...". The verses are good, Myke did good on the first verse and the hook, J Nova was very good on the second verse, loved his verse and style.

3. Dare (feat. Funf & Savage)
From the structure of the instrumental one will get the feeling that the artists are going to be in beast mode, the rough bass line just has that sort of effect when structured like on this track. However I feel the instrumental was quite distracting on the first verse; having the relatively loud vocal loops, edgy bass line and the rapper turning up a notch all at once was not the best of ideas. They however sorted it out from the second verse till the end. The track is sort of a continuation of the track before. They are saying we are the ones that cause disruption (on the charts/playlists...etc), we are the big guys now.

4. Get Mine (feat. TRK)

They "switched" to a more mellow, sort of dreamy vibe on this jam. The structure has a lot of RnB elements to it and its a refreshing change, then it switches to turn up hip hop towards the last end. The two halves do not sound like one song at all. The confusing nature continues to the vocals, the hook sets the tone nicely: "it's just a matter of time till I get mine...". Then the first verse comes and it does not specify what he wants to get, at face value it sounds like a dope verse, its structured well but when you listen closely you hear that he says nothing that helps with understanding the track, its just words that rhyme but add nothing to the implied theme. In the second verse you finally understand that he is talking about money, getting money. In overall it's a poor song, they should have just released the song starting from the last verse and cut off the first part.

5. Ngwerewere
Mczee loves to play with his bass, he loves to let the bass line lead the instrumental. The overall instrumental is structured in a standard way and its sounding nice. On this track Myke is saying he is now a reformed person, he mas made his peace with the Almighty and is now clean, everything is now flowing in his life.

6. Hairarwe (feat. Mariachi)

The production here is done quite well. The instrumental is modern and standard. This track is giving praise to the capital Harare, the city that never sleeps. There is always activity in Harare at any time of the day. Both the artist did quite well on the verses.

7. Hundare (feat. Baller)
Firstly the quality is bad on this jam, its all bloated especially the high frequency sounds. They could have done much much better on the mixing, the track is distorted. Hundare seems to be meaning kudya mari tichitanadara. However the mixing put me off here and the whole song just became uninteresting to me....

8. Ndakabatwa (Skit)
 On this skit Myke is just saying i'm drunk/high/stoned. Its more of a description of the events that happened after Hundare (kudya mari vachitandara).

9. Freeman
I'm a huge fan of the HKD boss so when I  saw the title, I thought he was featured then was disappointed when I saw it's just the title. The production is not so good, I don't know what is happening because the instrumentals were good at the start of the mixtape but they now are all going downhill. The track is addressed to those people who just want free stuff, those guys who are lazy to work they talk you up/get friendly up hoping you get to spend some cash on them They sometimes end up resorting to stealing in order to have some funds to spend.

10. Matsaga (feat. KI)
The production kind of improved here, the instrumental is a bit more clean and defined as compared to the past couple of tracks. As the title implies, the track is aimed at the haters, those people that always give you a plastic smile whilst they plot your downfall behind your back.

11. Run It (feat. Gold Finger)
The instrumental is much better here, its arranged in a standard way and its sounding nice. This is a self praise jam from Myke, he is saying we Run It, we have the dopest bars around. The hook here is the winning part, it gave the track this nice dancehall flavour, great work by the producer in  creating such a  blend of styles.

12. Saviour
A soulful intro, befitting of the title. The overall instrumental is made well, it carries on with the soulful vibe throughout. On this track Myke is saying he is the Saviour of the local rap game, uhmmmm!! he has been tortured by the genre but he fought it all and came out tops and he will take the rap game to the next level.

13. Ndozviona

The last track on the mixtape is on a mellow tip. Myke decided to end the mixtape on a socially conscious tip. He is addressing the inequalities, suffering and abuse that he sees on a day to day basis. He is crying out to the Almighty to have mercy on us. In a way this song seems to be inspired by Sharky's Soko Matemai, regardless it a nice jam.

I do not know if I should judge a mixtape like I do albums becasue mixtapes are sort of a rough cut. But anyway when one puts a project out to the public, the public is entitled to judge. Personally I did not find this mixtape that interesting.  Myke Pimp is a upcoming rapper and I see no point in him claiming that he is the best, he is killing them or is going to cause commotion because that is definitely not the case on the ground. I know hip hop to an extend is about bragging and challenging the big guys but as fans we need a basis for where we can judge how good your are, and for that there is need for songs where the artists is either just narrating: a story (eg, ASAPH Kingsvilla 1 & 2 or Maskiri Ndakafa/Madam Mombeshora), a social occurrence (Synik - Powercut, Stunner - Rudo Rwemari), describing a certain situation or object (Gze feat Junior Brown - Vroom Vroom/Yzia or MMT - Chidhori).

This mixtape has nothing that will push me to listen to it again and again, no interesting stroylines, no jaw dropping bars, no addictive instrumentals...a lot of innovation is required in-order for Myke Pimp to  capture the attention of the majority. Will be tracking him and see how he will develop from now on.

My overall rating: Poor/Average/Good.

What are your thought on the Mixtape??

Proud_Zimbo