Review by Loose Cannonz

DJ Kep - Here Comes The Pain 3

It's a beautiful warm spring day ova hea in Boston, Assachusetts and I'm in the crib stuck doing mixtapes reviews (all I know is the upcoming paycheck better be good boys)… At least I'm blessed with a whole stack of blends, rather than the usual repetitiveness of pause mixtapes. Blends are easily the best music for the ride, hot beats and hot lyrics meshed together to make the trunk bunk. DJ Kep The Arkitech proclaims on the tape's cover that these are the "best blends in the business," so expectations to begin with are already high... Before remixing Ja's "New York" to Noreaga's "Banned From TV" (the added Juelz Santana vocal to the hook helps pop this one out the frame), Jadakiss and Fat come out to the Mafioso strings of The Firm's "Affirmative Action," with an added hook from Biggie. Points go to Kep for making this a song, and not merely using the original hook as other blendsayers have done. More Fat Joe, with an alright blend of Pun's "Terror Squad," lacking an exciting beat to blend with; as the shimmering sounds of G-Unit fair better with Jae Millz' "Whateva." DJ Kep's blend of "Dream Shatterer" is a little boring, but that crack is "Live Big" featuring Big L and Big Pun over classic Dipset. The Dips themselves represent with mediocre results. Cam'Ron & Jahiem's "Lord You Know" is too soft to the disc's overall vibe and "Certified Gangstas" keeps the whole Swizz Beatz theme going (see most of Pun's cuts here), making this disc at times repetitive. D-Block's S.P. and Sheek destroy Capone's slashing drums on "Oh No," while the dynamic duo bash the Ultramag breakbeats from Ghostface's "Apollo Kids." Whilst loops on these beats allow for easiness, these two efforts display incredible lyric-per-beat moments from Kep; this acknowledges a technical aspect for blends along with the creative matchmaking. Goosebumps everyone, is "Thugz Mansion" over "Feel It In The Air." Oh mannnn…this should have been the original, as it sounds. Nas and Quan's "Just A Moment" over "All That I Got Is You" should do much of the same.

DJ Kep remembers when 50 was the man, and that'd be the days of "What Up Gangsta." And who better to join Fitty than the "Gangsta & the Gentleman" himself? Not really feeling the instrumental (is it Heatmakerz? Liveson?) on the track, so what could have been, ends up short. Eminem and 50 Cent the lyricist go on to rip the electric strings of "Real Live Shit" with words from "Realest Niggas" keeping the Busta hook intact. Former G-Unit member The Game shoots "Westside" over Havoc's smooth "Get Away" despite the misplacement of a synthesized-Roger Troutman hook shouting "Worldwide"(??). The short "Game Nigga" gets more props for meshing a difficult instrumental for dude's words, while DJ Kep's remix of "How We Do" could be the hottest yet, despite the hook not sounding at home over the twinkling keys. Dr. Dre and Eminem's "Encore" appearance make this that shit. Ever think of "Candy Shop" over an inadvertent version of "Oochie Wally"? It's a shame Kep did. Too annoying songs equal death. But credit goes for matching the Afghani samples and tick-tock drumming to the words almost as good as Scott Storch. Also, DJ Kep uses all-too-familiar beats often, such as "Disco Inferno" for Fab's "Baby" remix with Big (Vlad attempted this already earlier). You can't tell what type of audience homie is goin after on Here Comes the Pain 3, as the Goodfellas skits and street heat get confused by the blatant commercial reaches, such as the awkward "Ha" remix to "Ghetto" and T.I.'s "Bring Em Out" over Jigga's "Throw Your Hands Up." Actually, the blend sounds perfect with the Prodigy vocal. Despite my wishes for little more diversity within the roster and stronger beat choices, this joint ain't leaving the ride too soon and that ain't no joke.

RATING SYSTEM
	Trash
	Step Ya Game Up
	Diehards only
	In the Deck
	Straight Crack
	Among Year's Best
	Mixtape Classic