M-Dot – Layer Cake (2012)

Artist: M-Dot

Album: Layer Cake

Source: Artist

Tracklisting:

01. Intro
02. B-Sting (Produced By JoniZ)
03. 123 Flow (Produced By Kore)
04. Taggant Ft. Mayhem of EMS (Produced By Confidence & M-Credible) Cuts By DJ Family Tyz & DJ ToneDeff Cutz
05. The Difference (Produced By Soulslicers)
06. You Ain’t Ready Ft. Nutso (Produced By MidiFlash)
07. True Lies (Remix) Ft. Camp Lo & Tribeca (Produced By LP2)
08. Worldwide Ft. Armageddon (Produced By DJ Brans) Cuts By DJ Djaz
09. We Are (Produced By Onederkid)
10. Woke Up Ft. Mayhem of EMS (Produced By DJ LP2)
11. Interlude
12. The Doors Ft. EMS (Rev, Mayhem) & Olivia Pierson (Produced By LX Beats)
13. Unfukwitable (Produced By Sutter Kain)
14. Let it Out (Produced By DJ Connect)
15. El Mariachi Ft. Chaundon, Cymarshall Law & Daily Planet (Produced By Reef Ali) Cuts By DJ Grazzhoppa
16. Nothing To Fool With Ft. Hell Rell of Dipset & JTronius (Produced By FRZ)
17. Heavy Ft. Big Shug & Benefit of EMS (Produced By Norman Cratez) Cuts By DJ Reel Drama
18. Numerical Ft. Rev of EMS (Produced By Misanthropist)
19. Circulate Ft. Dominique Larue & Boycott Blues (Produced By DWill)
20. Wall Flowers (Produced By MidiFlash)
21. Think Twice (Remix) (Intro By DJ Premier) Ft. Av’Rex, Big Shug, Singapore Kane & Krumb Snatcha (Produced By DJ Brans) Cuts By DJ Djaz
22. Xmas Broke Ft. Rev of EMS (Produced By Norman Cratez)
23. Backstabbers (Produced By Gajos)

Note:

Our reigning champ, M-Dot, shot this project over to me many moons ago, while he has been galavanting around Europe on tour with the likes of that group you may have heard of,…Slaughterhouse.  Unfortunately it has taken me this long to get to do a write up on the project.  Really, Layer Cake, is a collection of guest spots, features, and rarities that M-Dot has put out or been a part of in the last 12 months.  While it isn’t an album, there are plenty of dope tracks collected together worth talking about.

I’ve talked about it before but M-Dot is a hard man to keep up with.  His flow at times is so rapid fire, and the wordplay so intricate,  it has my head spinning and I can’t rewind the track back far enough to get every turn of phrase.  But it’s that clever flow that makes his music timeless.  You can listen to his joints time and time again and always catch something new and have that “Oh shit..he said that!” moment.

Within Layer Cake you are going to get joints that have never made it on a project before (that I know of) like Mariachi that features lyrical heavyweights like Chaundon and Cymarshall Law.   You will also find super tough posse cuts like Think Twice Remix with Big Shug,  Singapore Kane, Av’rex, and Krumbsnatcha.  There’s also mere snippets of verses that M-Dot has dropped on other artist’s projects.

One things for sure, that contained within this mixtape are some of the illest bars spit this year.  Case in point, take M-Dot’s verse from Unfukwittable.  This track is lifted off of Red Eye’s street album, St. Fatrick’s Day which I recently reviewed.  It’s on a joint like this where you will hear M-Dot’s infinite potential:

…Rubbin’ dubbin’ in a tub with a slut up in Dublin / Hungry stomach grubbin’ and laughing while you’re up to nothing / It’s clear I love the hummin / To hear when the trumpets come in / The snare and drum precussion / Stare at the clubs we crushin…

I’m sure I did not get that 100% correct because the man’s delivery forbids my mind from working so fast.  But you get the hint.  He takes lessons that I learned in High School English and perfects them with certified hip hop flavor.  Seriously, I don’t know another emcee who uses assonance any better in a rhyme.  (That’s a compliment…nerd style).

There are so many strong performances on this mixtape, and yet another is his collaboration from Hell Rell of Dipset, Nothing To Fool With. Now I can’t tell you that I am a huge Dipset fan.  I can’t even tell you the last album I bought from the crew, but M-Dot dispels any reservations that one may have as he spits his verse over a funky rhythm.

They try to dirty my name cuz I don’t talk about it  / No tools locked and loaded…I’m cool to walk with out it / I’m overseas at a beach and at peace with the trees and the breeze, you creeps don’t know a fuck about it.

M-Dot is in rare air when you ask who his contemporaries are.  There’s not too many people I would mention in the same breath,  which is really saying quite  a bit when thinking about the company he is found with throughout the mixtape. Layer Cake is a must have for any EMS, M-Dot fan, or someone who just wants to hear 2012 hip hop at it’s best. Pick your category…