Review: “Underground Classics Vol. 2″

Lil’ Tone makes it no secret from the beginning of “Underground Classics Vol. 2” that he’s got an underground state of mind, but understands the necessity of a mainstream outlook, and with that this mixtape got joints for both sets of fans. That’s where the balance comes in, from an MC who still sounds a little underdeveloped but with some time and little more focus Lil’ Tone has the potential to really blow up.

After a brilliant introductory track in “Leaders”, with an epic beat and vocal sample, Lil’ Tone takes a beat that has just gotten past the point of being overplayed and goes in on “Illest on the Mic”. Two months ago this song would have been boring simply because the beat was everywhere, but tackling “Run This Town” with a high energy flow now, Lil’ Tone definitely does it justice. “Nuthin’ 2 Say” is a brilliant concept track with a funky backdrop in which Tone takes various situations and shows how at the end of them, there’s really not much you can say. “Love Story” and “Finish What We Started” are both good female-influenced tracks and after the smoothed out “Roll Interlude”, Lil’ Tone bumps that ignorant shit with “Blow A Stack” which is perfect for the clubs. “Put It Deep” is a definite gem, and not just cause of the sample on the hook that’s taken from the greatest album of all time. The whole feeling and sequence of the track builds perfectly. The other highlight is “Sit On My Face” which tackles a topic almost never addressed in hip hop because most dudes probably don’t wanna admit engaging in this practice, even though we all do.

What actually bothered me about this mixtape was the excessive amount of “snippet” tracks. I feel like we’re about five years removed from including snippets on anything as at this point a mixtape can function as an album and having these half-tracks only renders them useless rather than hyping them up for future listens (especially with one being a remix of an industry track which obviously can’t be included on any official album). Other than those short tracks (some of which aren’t terrible, just not complete) there really isn’t a bad moment on this record.

Overall “Underground Classics Vol. 2” is a nice collection of tracks, all showing that Lil’ Tone has style and substance and can certainly hold a flow. Even though on an “underground” album there seems to be a lot more mainstream-friendly tracks, this is still a solid effort from someone who definitely has potential in this game, I know I’ll be checking for a full album when he drops one. 3/5


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