I am so excited and so extremely happy to do a blog on this dude. I’m so excited that I don’t even know if I’m able to get started.

*deep breath*

Okay I’m ready. This will probably be a jumble of thoughts, because I am that excited.

I graduated from one of the best institutions ever know to the educated man ohh… about 3 years ago. Yes. I am old and it sucks. After I graduated and left my legacy on said institution I began to hear a buzz about this dude with a funny name that rapped. Now once again I will assert that I am sort of a music snob. I will not cosign or purchase or allow to be on my itunes anything that I deem to be pitiful, f**kery, or just plain wack. Most of my artists are still in the underground circuit and sometimes I feel a little sad when they make it big because then everyone fights for the right to say they are the coolest for listening to “So and So”. I love all genres of music which is why what I am about to share with you is so awesome. I went off on a tangent there, but I’m going to bring it back.

So this guy, I’m told his name is Rufat. Again, I am skeptical because what does some guy named Rufat, who is a college freshman at the time, know about hip hop? I ask, “Where is he from?” People respond, “Man I don’t know” or “some country overseas” I only had one friend who was able to say “Azerbaijan” and I believe it had a lot to do with his own familiarity with the area. However, since my Asian geography was a little off I was like “a what who? Like Borat?” LOL I knew it was a joke.

I am deeply saddened to say because I didn’t take him seriously, I am pretty late on his awesomeness. Recently we became Facebok friends because it’s always a good idea to continuously expand your network especially when you have a good product. Through stalkerbook’s news feed option I noticed that he had a mixtape coming out and all of our mutal friends were promoting it hard, titled Everything’s Lame. Clearly I AM lame because I still paid no close attention to it. One day I jumped online to see that Mr. Rufat had posted his mixtape on my wall, and I was almost offended. How dare he push this on me? I had vowed that when it sucked, I was going to leave a scathing review of it right on his wall. But, alas, I gave it a good hard listen and I loved it!

Before I give my full review, let me give you some personal words right off the man’s Facebook Page out the man’s mouth:

I follow no man except Jesus. Im diverse and Light Hearted. I love Art, God, Music, Fashion, Shoes, and Rebelling againist the mind control. Hop on my spaceship, where we don’t view the stars, we are the stars. Take the journey called “Rufat”, cuz I am a Trip (literally). I joke around 97% of the time because life is harsh and stupid people are those who actually think I’m serious. Jesus is who I strive to be like. The bible never talks about Jesus laughing, Why? because he prolly did it so much they felt there was no need to write about it. By the time life is over, all I want to hear is WELL DONE.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Now on to the music.

Everything’s Lame (click the title to go to the mixtape’s download site) is any music lover’s breath of fresh air. It is like traveling through a spectrum of all great musical tastes and captures the essence of a lot of great artists through Rufat’s eyes. He takes beats and styles that we all know and love but makes them his own with his particular unique flavor.

The Intro to Lame is pure genius with the voice of Stewie coming through your speakers to introduce the concept, the sarcasm is priceless. His equation to explain how everything really is “Lame” is pure lyrical wordsmith geniusness and is very remniscent of the interlude on the Love Below with Fonzworth Bently, Good Day Good Sir. I think I’m on the right track with that being that the next song, the title track, is sampling Fonzworth’s debut song “Everybody”.

It goes from hard hitting to the perfect club banger with the song “Can’t Deny”. Even though he uses the banned word swag, it’s still a bumping song. LOL. I’d dance hard to it in the club. It’s got that Europop electric feel (more on that later) to it and I love it.

Can’t Deny

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Everything’s Lame is a melting pot of genres and flavors and probably speaks to Rufat’s background. Native to another country, here in America, and a lover of Hip Hop. By default he himself is a melting pot of different flavors and I’m sure that’s influenced him greatly. From “Wait for It” that samples Erykah Badu’s Soldier, to Electric Feel that samples the original of the same name by MGMT. I can’t even lie, when I heard the beat drop to Electric Feel I did the typical Hip Hop exclamaition “ohhhhhh snap!” (That’s not typical? No? I thought it was.) At this point, I was beyond impressed.

Electric Feel

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I can’t say enough. It’s an amazing mixtape. I love the hype songs, the straight up “hard” anthems, and the chill and laid back vibes. From politically charged rhymes to songs about computer lovin’, lyrically I love his flow. At first I was having a hard time feeling out his cadence, but I realized that he adapted it to whichever sound he was going for and I appreciate that. He’s creative and able to actually talk about something. He’s not a conscious rapper, but he’s definitely real Hip Hop. It’s great to see someone of our generation and age taking it back to good real music. Like Drake I truly believe he is right on time. I’m not trying to be a bandwagoner, but I just want to do what I can to try and get the home team some more love.

Please please go check out the mixtape and show him some love. Go to his myspace page, leave him comments here on the blog, SHOW HIM LOVE.

When it comes to this mixtape, I barely broke the surface on it, but I just hope that I wet your pallete a bit. Below are two more songs, one that just gives a deeper look into the man behind the music, and the other I just love. Check it out, spread love!

Closer Look Ft. DJ AcroJam

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

PC Love

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Related posts:

1. Introducing Sneaky Castro…hot beatmaker Most people who know me know that I have stuck...
2. Love Of My Life: An Ode to Hip Hop You know I can’t actually recall the moment that...
3. Music Monday: Radio Recognizes It’s Role in Hop Hop Today I was listening to the Ricky Smiley morning show...
4. What’s in my headphones: Revolutionary Love It is with great pleasure that I bring to you...
5. Introducing “Mr. Old Soul” Moses Muzek I’m not like the foremost authority on Good Music, but...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.