The King of Miami's first official mixtape is finally here and every track aside from the obvious 50 Cent diss plug-ins are exclusives. The tape consists of 30-semod freestyles spotlighting a nice array of artists from NY to FL, of course. DJ Khaled's gravelly voice on the drops is humorous, making up that fact with sharp cuts interlacing a majority of the tracks. To begin, Timbo's sample-vicious "Put You On the Game" underlines Fat Joe and Fab detailing the milieu they often lamp to-that be South Beach. The hip-hop scene is underrated as perhaps no other venue aside from that of NY hits the airwaves quicker with the hot shit. If you've been lucky enough to visit, you'd be quick to forgive the flossy ass rhymes the combo depicts to near-reality. Freeway then goes haywire over the classic buzzing bass on the cover of Snoop's classic "Tha Shiznit." Ja rips "Why"-not a Jada cover-over ill futuristic beats, yet fails to go over a minute with half of it talking. Deliver it in full man! Missy's freestyling, while truly free, is all too silly; while "You Don't Know" Remi is clearly not difficult to cover at all, lacking the creativity Juelz delivered with his version. Speaking of Mr. Santana, he exceptionally covers again on his version of "Hate It or Love It," detailing how the fucked-up 80s has tainted the lives of those growing up in Crack-heavy Harlem. Say what you want, but the man has a message in most of his joints. Jae Millz flows fa da victory over "Statue," which doesn't say a whole lot ("lyrically MC's fear me like one-time") but gains points for the heightened flow over a tough track and being an obvious off-the-dome spit (rare, nowadays).

Wyclef pleads Fugees to reunite over "Little Haiti"-who can blame him?-but with his uncharismatic speaking over a hype Dipset beat, I won't blame Pras and Lauren if they don't return those respects. Even as I commend Clef's political sacrifice (as well as his guitar-playing abilities), vocally the last 4 or 5 years he's just been too out there; hopefully a Fugees reunion can bring back The Score in dude. Save for Tony Sunshine's brilliant John Legend remake, the most pleasing if not staggering addition to This Ain't A Movie Dogg! come from producers, Dre (from Cool N Dre kids), who spits actual impressive multi-syllabics, while, in his first mixtape appearance, the live keyboard fundamentals of Scott Storch are exposed. The interlude displays keys only, or Timbo's mighty beat-box to Storch's melodies (Timberlake), revealing how million dollar hits can be all so simple! Whew. If only we thought of this first. DJ Khaled's freestyle highlights include the most fucked up line of the year, from who else but MainO: "Any hater act up he gon' feel the revolver / And found on the side of the road like Jordan's father." Or how bout, "I got this girl lying under me like adlibs"? Can't front, the cocky one has rhymes. Juve's "Got Crack" over the Ying Yang's popular "Wait" bounces, while Pitbull represents lovely on the impressive double-time "Dade County." It's surprising the tape lacks more Pit raps as the country ain't up on his non-"Gasolina"-Reggaeton skills that should be exposed. In all, I'm a bit disappointed with Khaled's debut. Many of the artists he's aiming to showcase, such as P.M., Smitty, Brisco, and Hennessy-admirable, indeed-will likely fly under the radar as nothing-specials, whereas the constant shouting to NYC's bigger DJ's make Miami's Finest look more the fan than individual ready for bigger things. Worse off, most of the tape's superlative talents spit bars no longer than 30-seconds. Shit WOULDA been better off as a flick, Khaled!

- Step Ya Game Up

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