The Truth

DJ Whoo Kid + Chamillionaire

Well since we're so popular with Cham fans ever since Serg talked about that Chamillitary CD I figured I might as well give them another reason to get pissed off and talk about this mixtape.

I picked this up at gramaphone when i was in chicago over spring break; it came out a couple weeks ago but I don't think anyone's really touched on it too much yet. (aside to Chi-town people: if you don't know gramaphone is moving to 2843 N Clark; they say there's a lot more space there. Grand opening is March 31, if you drop by the old locale though you can get a flyer which gives you 10% off any purchase over 30 bucks which is actually pretty great; I almost always spend more than thirty bucks there.)

Anyway back to this Cham mixtape - ridiculous replay in the past couple weeks. It kicks off with more "dike jones" disses - Cham says Mike's not as rich as he says, he's getting ripped off on his publishing, he's dumb, and he's the most "non-rappingest rapper" in Houston history or something; whatever. Honestly the whole H-town politics thing was really interesting to me at first but at this point I'm just sort of weary of it all. Sometimes on this it sounds like Cham feels the same way. If you're really interested check this out I guess, it seems like a pretty decent round-up. Cham makes it clear he's not dissing Paul Wall. There's a track over the "It's Going Down" beat. Lots of straight up lyrical shit; he sounds all kinds of major-label confidence, still in love with his money and he knows where he's going. I hate to sound like an MTV promo or some shit but I love how driven he sounds, like jay in I'm FOCUSED man-mode.

There's some old stuff on here, like the DJ Screw tribute that closes it was on Mixtape Messiah, "Platinum Allstars" with lil flip and bun-b which is on southern smoke 8 with Paul Wall, as well as "I'm A Bad Man" which was on Whut It Dew (although its a different mix). There are two tracks that i was really digging though.

Cham, Sly Cat and Dirt Bag - "Tonight" (alternate DL)
Dark club joint: warbling, spaced-out arpeggios, buzz-saw guitar, first verse: "my alphabet short, I stayed on g's," to the chorus. Koopa's verse, short: "I'm not underground, i'm universal," but is he? chuckles at his own line, returns to the chorus. I like this track a lot but I'm not sure I see this blowing up on radio or something. Could be a minor hit, but it almost feels like the beat never takes off.

Cham - "Ain't Gotta Go Home" (Alternate DL)
"My favorite joint!" says Whoo Kid, he's right. Weird, chill, laid back guitar-driven jazzy production - what is it, Grant Green or something? Studio guitarist? Close your eyes and Cham is in the booth, lids half-closed, notebook in hand, concentrating. "My brother is my descendent, we're runnin' a mile a minute, HUT-HUT its time to win it." Applause to end the verse! "Shit is crazy, I had to play the whole verse, i ain't cutting shit!" - whoo kid again. Cham hums, then the chorus: "you ain't gotta go home, but you've gotta get the hell outta here," and its a late-night, post-party track; Cham's verse is like some self-conscious internal monologue when you're a little hazy-drunk with a touch of weed-paranoia, questioning all of yr friends motives and thinking all Holden Caulfield-style about fake people and falsifying and you walk home humming the melody. Breaking down drama ("They don't pay me Chamille!"), handling business, maturity, MOTIVATION and a touch of vulnerability ... Whoa rewind that - what'd he just say? Shit:

"So set yr mousepad on the internet and punish my style/ or set your reeboks on the streets of houston running me down/ its whatever, i BEEN better at provin' a nigga wrong / tell goliath i don't need rocks to prove a little nigga strong/ so tell Watts, forgive me I'm groovin' I'm in my zone/ property of Mike Who? he ain't here, that lil' nigga gone." [Gunshot] WHOO!