Last week J. Cole celebrated his 29th birthday by treating fans to a new mixtape: Revenge of The Dreamers. The tape features new music from himself as well as his Dreamville artists Bas, Omen, and Treasure Davis.
Cole get things started with Lil’ Niggaz (Snippet) where he goes in over Tupac’s classic – Ambitionz Az A Ridah. We only get about 30 second of rapping before the track gets cut off mid verse but it’s just enough to get you into it and dying to hear more. Bas has the first full song on the tape with ‘Golden Goals‘ and it is definitely one of the standouts. It features a zoned out, hard heating beat with heavy trap drums. Bas rides the beat perfectly dropping gritty bars while painting pictures of his rise to success. If you aren’t familiar with Bas this tape is great introduction. He’s the rising star for Dreamville and opened for J. Cole on his What Dreams May Come True Tour.
‘Motion Picture’ has Omen on his own. Dropping self conscious rhymes about his struggles to find success. The track’s got a 90’s vibe with a laidback beat. ‘Lit” features J. Cole and Bas together with KQuick on the hook and Ced on the beat (“lemme vibe out”). The track originally appeared on Bas’ QRRM Vol. II. Cole drops a Gem of verse concluding with “Another shot of henny so I’m faded asking… how long do this drug called fame be lasting?“. This was one of my favorite tracks of 2013 and if it’s your first time hearing you’ll definitely be impressed.
‘Revenge of The Dreamers’ has J. Cole getting introspective with a ton of quotables. The first verse is heavy and reflective while the second is a lot lighter, showcasing his humor and swagger. “On to the next bitch homie/ your new chick, that’s ex bitch homie/ in fact i’m still logged in her Netflix homie”.
‘Ceelo with the G’s’ and ‘Henny Flow’ are solid efforts from Bas and Omen respectively. Omen’s “TDK, they call me Turn down king, TDK” is catchy but I wonder how many people will identify with it since it seems that everyone seems to be trying TURNUP these days. ‘Blowin Smoke‘ has J. Cole straight rapping over a trippy wonky beat. Simply put, it’s nice.
‘Bitches’ is the clique track with Cole, Bas and Omen all dropping verses. The song sounds like they recorded after a night of heavy partying. If you’re looking for an ignorant, yet mellow party track, this is for you. Be advised this song could almost make Too Short blush (they drop bitch just under 19 times in 5 minutes). ‘May the Bitter Man Win’ showcases female vocalist Treasure Davis while J. Cole rhymes about his missteps with his ex.
The mixtape closes out with the Original version of J. Cole latest hit ‘Crooked Smile’. This version definitely has a grittier mixtape vibe with Cole rapping over TuPac’s Str8 Ballin and getting more personal. The track features 2 different verses, with the first verse matching the version that appeared on Born Sinner. The second verse has Cole reflecting on rap battle from back in the day. “Thought I scared the nigga, DJ started the beat, His heart started to beat/ Fast/ the part of defeat/ The nigga verse was weak/ That is until he said this/ You ain’t So So Def, your teeth just got Jagged Edges/Damn, that was the dagger/That killed my swagger.”
Overall the mixtape is must for any J. Cole fan and serves as a good introduction to the Dreamville team. You can stream or download the full mixtape over at audiomack. Let us know your thoughts on the tape in the comments section below.
