Lito with another audio offering and an update on upcoming projects.
Following the successful release of The Tenn-A-Keyan 3.5, an early 2010 “Mixtape of the Year” contender, Starlito has no plans of slowing down anytime soon. Living In The Past a project that will feature Star rhyming over instrumentals from the pre-2000 era is set to drop on Valentine’s Day (2/14). While Renaissance Gangster, a street album with beats provided by DJ Burn One is due to drop the following day, 2/15. And Starlito’s Way 3: Life Insurance is scheduled to drop on 3/13 & has the makings to be his best work yet. When it’s all said & done that would mean Lito will have dropped 8 tapes in 10 months. And the result of all this could go down as one of the best 12-month runs of consistent quality music that any 1 rapper has had in recent memory. [DGB]
Star, reference LC’s quality product theory.
While I’m all for the material and it’s made for great riding material, it’d be good if all those tapes were filled with better than average material but they’re not. Most of the recent offerings have been weighed down by a lack of direction and the featured appearances are heavy distractions. I’ve had to download, knowing in advance that I’m going to have to use a sifter to shake loose all the gravel to get the gold.
Sure, mixtapes are still a valuable tool in this rap thing. If the mixtape is your marketing plan to a bigger payday, clean them up and make sure they’re showing your best product. That shit with Drake and Gucci? Pure luck similar to throwing dice against the wall. If you’re working this hard, a good structured attack trumps just grinding hard to say you’re hustling.
Yep, voting with my dollars again.
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“just grinding hard to say you’re hustling”
Excuse me, but I need to borrow this line for a few folks that I know. I’ll have it back to you as soon as I’m done. Thanks!
it’d be good if all those tapes were filled with better than average material but they’re not. Most of the recent offerings have been weighed down by a lack of direction and the featured appearances are heavy distractions.
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I disagree.
I thought Lito had a nice run of material the past year. Comparing the quality of his past tapes and his recent output and it’s clear that there is some progression. Would he be better served condensing all those mixtapes into one tape? Maybe, but the way things are going, an MC has to keep new material out there to stay relevant and All-Star has succeeded in doing just that, increasing his profile with every new tape.
But what did you think of the song?
Over this track, you can’t really go wrong.
Add that with the fact that Lito never comes weak…you do the math.
“…my work ethic and talent don’t match my appeal
So what I do? Get the weight gone, diet pills”
I thought the track was flames.
I think the plan of attack is flawed.
Yeah, you keep your name out there but @ what cost? If a majority of those tracks aren’t worthy of repeating, then is a new fan going to stick around or understand the fuss? What about the person w/the ability to cut a check? All they hear is another mixtape.
Quality over quantity & 2-3 of those 10 has to be the equivalent of a retail release in order to impress.
If a majority of those tracks aren’t worthy of repeating, then is a new fan going to stick around or understand the fuss? What about the person w/the ability to cut a check? All they hear is another mixtape.
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But that’s the thing, this is strictly mixtape material. There were a couple of album worthy joints sprinkled throughout but mixtapes are mixtapes, especially when the sole purpose is to raise the public’s awareness. Cats have put out free albums last year that were retail quality and have still gone virtually ignored so the Drake way of doing things isn’t a surefire win. And it’s not like any of the joints Lito put out were straight wack. All-Star is still signed to Cash Money as far as I know, so he wasn’t angling for a record deal. The goal was to raise his profile and I think he was successful. Starlito’s Way 2 had retail caliber material and I think Starlito’s Way 3 will be the same. All these mixtapes have basically been building up to SW3. I’m gonna wait until I see what he’s doing on Renaissance Gangster (the first time I’ve seen “Street Album” next to one of his tapes) & Starlito’s Way 3 before I completely write off his strategy.
Reference the article linked or just look @ Pill.
He put out all of two mixtapes last year. Two focused, well-crafted tapes.
10 tapes have raised Star’s buzz, but only slightly. Keepin it funky, I can do a Star post, knowing I’m really going to get the same reaction as I do when I make a post for certain other artists. Not a knock and I don’t not make the post. I just know that they’re still well under the radar for a large majority, even a majority of the folks that visit here.
Again, none of this is a knock. Just saying that when you do get people’s attention, you have to make sure when they do decide to listen that the material is representative. With the wealth of mixtapes out, you really only have 1-2 chances before cats skip over your shit lol. I listened to the last tape, I think it was two from the I Love You series…meh. A few good songs but a lot of mess that had to be deleted or wasn’t worth listening to more than a few times.
I’d take a completely different approach.
I respect your opinion GOTTY, mostly because you try to validate it by citing and referencing other situations. Fact is, Starlito is resilient (see Back Story), crafty, witty. It seems like you might agree with me ,since like you said, you’re writing about him (again).
A reader might not realize this, because after re-reading and checking the update on the comments, I only get that you agree with how he goes about it. You don’t like everything, fair. Neither do I, and he’s my favorite “rapper type”. But if you didn’t have the leverage to force your hand or push a big record label around what would you do? Record at the speed of sound, or fade in to obscurity? I get that you’re saying ‘focus your best material and push that’, but sometimes when your knee deep in this bullshit game it’s hard to gauge what’s “best”. Large-scale, and even immediately from the music standpoint. I can remember Lil’ Wayne’s ‘Sqad Up’ and I suffered through the quantity for what I thought was some quality. And what’s the matter with a rapper trying to put his crew on? Everybody else is doing it…Well except for his superiors
I digress.
PLEASE DON’T STOP POSTING DUDE’S MUSIC
I’m siding with Gotty on this one…Star’s repping for the home-team & “Starlito’s Way II” is one of the best albums to come out the South since the ‘Golden Era’….but this mixtape shit he been pullin’ since is a whole nother style. He’s diluted his product w/ shit like “I Go Ham” & “Do The Middleman”. When one of your favorite artists already has the talent it hurts to see them regress maturity-wise as far as subject matter instead of getting deeper & more open about themselves as time goes on.
Man…..to set it straight. Star hates doing the songs like “I Go Ham” & “Middleman”. He has referenced his talent as his gift & curse. If you listen to disk 2 of Starlitos Way 2, you can tell he struggles with doing what he wants to do musically, or doing what is expected(industry) of him. “Mirror Man” is prime example. Even in the beginning of “Middle Man” he opens with comments which further validate. The guy is the best rapper I have ever listened to and I understand that some of his songs are just that…”songs”. I think he goes over the head of those that are not so brainy and his struggle is dumbing it down. He feels he shouldn’t have to, but in order to win, he knows he has to.