King Smij - Sshhhh 25 (Bridging the Gap Stolen Jewels)

The honorable one has graced us with another mixtape for review. I'm a fan of this mixtape series.

The concept of this CD is the shit. Let me break it down for those not in the KNOW. Sshhh is your slow jams, the mello groves of yesterday and today. Stolen Jewels refers to the fact that so many of todays hits are actually stolen from some classics of the past. Upload this shit to your IPod or throw it in your whip and listen while the honorable King Smij bridges the gap and mixes the past with the present to show you where it came from a-la look what I found style.

Hold up. If your not a fan of slow jams click on the next review or go back to downloading porn becaus this is not for you. Straight up the CD starts off on fire with "Girl Tonight" s/b (stolen by) Twista as originally done by Ready For The World. If you don't know who that is do some god damn research. Dude was singing "Oh" like that shit hurt. There are some classic lines in this song too. "Tender Love" follows, s/b Trina as originally done by the Force MD's. That's right those cats from the House Party movies. I don't even have to explain this song. For all you Bow Bow fans (laughs) peep "Leaving You Again" and add a little New Edition to your lives. You didn't know Jay Z stole "Dear Summer" from Lenny White? Well now you know. Ok so you've all heard Bow Wow on "Let Me Hold You" did he bite that chours from Luther Vandross? Hell yea, "If Only For One Night" is the shit. This song melts panties off women fo' real and will def have you trying to make twins with your special lady. Listen to Luther on "House Is Not A Home" and tell me who bit lines. I could go on and on with this man. I'll give you one more because the shit was sooo smooth. "Can't Help It" by Michael Jackson, s/b Fabolous was blended seamlessly back and forth. Aight enough, you got to cop it for yourself.

If you don't already know by the review or the clips, Smij plays a little bit of the stolen track at the beggining and/or throughout the original. Other DJs have done similar things with breaks but this had a nice twist to it in that it was all ssssssshhhhhhhhhhh.....slow jams for the most part. I had to strain to catch some of the similarities on a couple joints but for the most part the shit is flawless. What had me amped was that this is a series as far as rocking the stolen joints so you can def expect more. I'll leave you with this to listen too------- "Be Thankful".

3 1/2 tapes