The first mixtape by The Jealous Guys dropped earlier today, and it’s as good as we thought it would be. Released on Valentines day with the appropriate title “The Love Mixtape”, they earned wings with an hour of Bay Area hip-hop above par. There are fifteen tracks included for your listening pleasure, and two interludes (“Male Perspective”/”Female Perspective”) to go with them. The title of the mixtape, combined with chosen release date, can be a bit misleading to the unwary listener – although I would describe the entity as a listen that definitely brings warm vibrations, the mood they set is more melancholic and heavyhearted than it is oversweet and sunny. We’ve previously shared two of the gems that are featured on “The Love Mixtape”, the nostalgic jam “Bus Stop Jazz”, produced by Based God partisan Lunice, which you can read about and cop here as well as the joint they did with Solomon & Finder called “Love You So”, post on that located here.
Then there are another thirteen tracks we haven’t written about yet, and after a couple of spins I can’t entirely work out the best tracks on the mixtape as they bring a wide variety of genres to the table. Dare I say they are on the right track of bringing back golden age hip-hop in the best way possible, mixed with their own fresh outlook on the genre. Ayinde and Casa tackle the subject love, lust and jealousy on this mixtape, painting images with their metaphors, but they definitely don’t overdo it on a poetic tip. A good balance that makes provision for good messages in their tracks, “the thoughts of two young men’s souls”.
On first listen there were three tracks that caught my attention, the first one being “Insomniac Rhapsody” which has the producer 82Fresh on the buttons. Listen to a couple of his older productions here if you will, including a tasteful take on “U Can’t Touch This” and a Drake remix many of you will love. After Danny Watts heard “Insomniac Rhapsody“, he got so inspired he had to add a third verse to the track. The outcome is very strong but no other track on the mixtape hits as hard as “Caged”. The track kicks off with a fragment by Arcade Fire’s “My Body Is A Cage”, but it doesn’t take long before the rustic mood get blown off its feet by yet another beat by 82Fresh. It’s definitely one of the more red-blooded tracks on the mixtape, but this can only be a good thing as both Ayinde and Casa laid down their strongest verses on this track. The last one that stood out for me is the track “Writer”, which starts out with some wise words by Denzel Washington as Det. Alonzo Harris in “Training Day” and is followed up by a simple yet very effective instrumental provided by Ayinde himself – as the beat is simple yet effective, the end result completely focuses on their lines rather than being distracted by other elements of the track, which once again underlines the proficiency of the two.
Download: The Jealous Guys – Insomniac Rhapsody (Produced by 82Fresh) (192 kbps)
Download: The Jealous Guys – Caged (Produced by 82Fresh) (192 kbps)
Download: The Jealous Guys – Writers (Produced by Ayinde) (192 kbps)
I can only recommend that you listen to the full mixtape as there are many more gems to be found on it, so why don’t you go and download “The Love Mixtape” here, and follow Ayinde and Casa on Twitter. Thank me later.
