Mixtape Review: "XS" by Jesse Abraham

1. Abraham & Cheese
Clever title. Clips from an audio book playing over a pretty decent beat.

2. So Whatcha Feelin’? Ft. Jenny Hartman
Diggin this beat. Fast marching-band percussion and groovy bass line. “Droppin cakes and candy corns” odd. “Mental laps/lapse” nice. The chorus is quirky but vibeable. “Efficient vibration” hehe. Flow speeds up nicely on last verse. The lyrics on this last verse are very abstract and random. Very hard to follow.

3. Either
Nice beat, remind me of a joint Jay-Z rocked before. The chorus is alright. “like Dr. Pepper when he throws his soda out” I have no idea what that means. Flow is on-point. “Nickel bag trickles”. Dope rhyme scheme/structure. Vocal production is off. “Stripper in a Duke dorm” reference was fairly obscure. “Genitals, heel” haha!

4. Between The Bars ft. Top $ Raz, Spills, & Pete Colon
The beat is sick, loving the deep synth. Vocals on chorus are too low and partially incoherent.
Raz – Nice multi-syllable rhymes. Delivery and flow work with the beat well. “Comes with the territory” tight.
JAbra – Good delivery and flow. Lyrics are on the battle tip. Dope rhyme scheme. Delivery change-ups are sick. Some of the content seemed out of place.
Pete – Vocals are too low. Interesting delivery. Nothing stood out lyric-wise.
All three verses were speaking on 3 different topics. No thematic cohesion at all.

5. Now I Know
The beat is bumping with a catchy percussion. Feelin’ the chorus. “Series of moments”. First track with a solid topic. “A part of each other” nice. “I’m a fraction”.

6. Softly
A dopely mixed & sampled beat.

7. Just In Time ft. YC The Cynic
Chorus is well structured but Jesse’s singing voice is too monotone. Beat is righteous. Flow is vicious. “Shuckin’ the corn” Haha! What!?
YC – Very on topic. “I fly with it”. Effective delivery and nice flow.
JA – Diggin’ this drastic change in delivery. More on-topic here. “Hadoken a wristwatch” hehe. Cool bridge-like transition before the last couple lines.

8. I Can’t Quit You
Beat is super-tight. “Legally bequeaths me with beats” ok. Great vocabulary. “Trees, leaves, and seedling.. paper” dope. Diggin’ the delivery a lot. Nice multis. Well done vocal effects.

9. All I Know Is
Chill beat, I feels it. “Playing with a dradel” Haha!! Chorus is decent. Nice topic and content.

10. When
Funky beat. “Stop being bendy” Haha! “When will vaccines get infected”, “When did everyone start wearing tight pants”, “Ticklish”. Unique topic and rhyme scheme.

11. The Sit Down
This was weird/interesting haha. It could have been better developed. If it's a "voicemail" how are you responding to him?

12. The Sickest
Vocal production is low quality. Some nice mixing, but also sometimes it’s too much. “Disinfect it”. Diggin’ this chorus.

13. That Song
Vocal production needs work. Flow is a tad basic compared to flow on previous songs. The main chorus sample is somewhat annoying after a while.

14. March
Very synthy and clubbish beat, I digs. Organs add nicely to it. Soft background ambient synth make a smooth transition. I like evolution of percussion after that midpoint. This is a really unique mix of techno, house, and hip-hop.

15. Take Me
Chorus is cool. “Even then we say yum” haha. The topic romantically describes NYC. The delivery was alright, but I felt was not up to par as in some of the earlier tracks.



Strengths
+ Excellent flow that stays on beat all throughout and changes up at the right times.
+ Varied rhyme structure that makes great effort towards keeping the listener’s attention.
+ Sick delivery in most of the tracks.
+ Guest artists were on-point for the most part.
+ Awesome beat production.

Weaknesses
- Random lyrics and content peppered much of the first half of this tape that can leave the listener confused and de-immersed.
- The bottom portion of the tape, from 11-15, consisted of tracks that, while more on-topic, were more bland than the first 10 songs, with not many stand-out lines at all.
- Vocal production was a mixed bag. Some tracks were well engineered, while others were clearly not.
- Jesse’s delivery was lackluster towards the end, especially compared to the first set of tracks.
- Song topics in the first half could have been better thought out and cohesive.



Compatibility Rating:
Underground: 75%
Mainstream: 25%


Favorite Song: Now I Know


Face Value: 7.8/10



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