B.o.B. and Fellow Young Guns Asher Roth, J.Cole, and Charles Hamilton

I recently got my hands on the new B.o.B. mixtape, with DJ Drama – part of the Gangsta Grillz series, if that still means anything. The lead track of the tape makes fun of the concept in traditional Bobby Ray self-effacing style. “You had to go get Drama and DJ Sense? Whaddya want DJs screaming all over your mixtape again?” he says.

In fairness, the DJ Green Lantern tags on B.o.B.’s last mixtape were kind of a drag. But here they’re not too intrusive, which allows B.o.B. to roam a little freer, letting his laid back, humorous style shine. It’s not his best mixtape, but it’s still pretty fly.

Some of the highlight tracks on the tape feature some of the other up-and-comers in the game. In particular, the track with Asher Roth – love him or hate him – is awesome. It’s produced by Kanye and has that old school College Dropout style to it. Asher even adopts a Kanye-ish flow on the track, sounding the Eminem with Ye’s cadence. It’s sweet, even though the track is like 6 minutes long.

“Gladiators,” features J.Cole, and is a bit more of a banger. The beat and tags are a bit confused, not sure whether they’re coming or going. But B.o.B.’s flow is nice and J.Cole (one of the most promising young guns) shows his stuff off nicely.

Charles Hamilton also makes his return, with “Fool For Love.”Bobby Ray shows his singer side and lets Hamilton do most of the rapping – his verse is fast and fun. All in all, the mixtape isn’t something that’s going to play on repeat any time soon, but it’s a nice little taster pack for B.o.B. and makes me look forward to see what he’s going to do on his first real release.

B.o.B. f. Asher Roth – Fuck The Money (YSI)

B.o.B. f. J.Cole – Gladiators (YSI)

B.o.B. f. Charles Hamilton – Fool For Love (YSI)