We’re nearing the 6 month mark of T.I.’s latest, critically acclaimed, Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head album, and the Grand Hustle Entertainment founder is showing no signs of letting up. Corralling a plethora of the game’s youngest, freshest, edgiest talent (Travis Scott, Iggy Azalea, Trae The Truth, B.o.B., Young Dro & Chip), The Source’s current cover artist has released the highly-anticipated Get Dough Or Die mixtape. With Travis Scott’s recent G.O.O.D. Music push, Iggy Azalea’s Def Jam deal and B.o.B. consistently releasing music over the past month, G.D.O.D. couldn’t come at a better time to hold over fans of the individual artists until the major label projects come.
Kicking it off with the outspoken “Err’body”, T.I. completely disowns Yung L.A. “don’t ask me nothin’ about Yung L.A., I don’t know that n*gga, that’s Dro dog”, right before Chip, Young Dro and Trae The Truth take the beat for enjoyable rides. Though some have been known to complain aboupt Trae’s deep, almost whisper-esque voice at times, there’s no denying his authentic Houston flow and aura every time he approaches a song, which can be appreciated on a team filled with native Atlanta artists. An ode to T.I.’s A&R talent, if you will.
The mixtape is extremely well put together, to say the least. Sprinkling a few major features–Kendrick Lamar, Meek Mill, French Montana, Young Jeezy and Juicy J–among the already major talents of T.I.’s Hustle Gang members, G.D.O.D. is a through and through expression of southern rap at its finest, mixed with the eclectic east coast lyricism that T.I. & his henchmen Young Dro and B.o.B. can bring. Coupled with the flair of Iggy & Scott, Get Dough Or Die was destined to be successful from the onset.
Meek Mill makes a triumphant return to the stage that provided his platform to become the superstar he is now, appearing on the song that isn’t a Pusha T remix, “Blocka”, while Young Jeezy unexpectedly smooths out the sound on his collaboration, “Only ‘N’ Atlanta”. T.I. makes an appearance on almost every track, which may seem like a detriment to some, but the self=proclaimed King Of The South simply paces each song by often either opening or closing the cut with his verse, qualifying the efforts of his proteges in a way. There is no clear cut winner on G.D.O.D., like A$AP Ferg was on his posse’s compilation Lords Never Worry mixtape last year, which eventually landed him a record deal of his own with RCA. Though B.o.B. dis-spells any consent that he’s become a full blown pop artist, and Chip proves that he’s more than just a British accent on the first full song. While the majority of each artist is signed to their individual labels already (Atlantic, Def Jam), this project will undoubtedly establish the Hustle Gang clique as a force to be reckoned with in the industry, and with rap groups marking their territory on the charts daily, such as G.O.O.D. Music, MMG and Black Hippy, on Get Dough Or Die, T.I.’s camp seems to be poised to do anything but the latter.
-Khari Nixon (@KingVanGogh)
