Maybe Hollywood Holt’s Mixtape Is 2010’s Summer Jam?

By Jon Graef in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 1, 2010 8:20PM

By now, readers of this here web-rag are probably sick of death of discussing what the jam of the summer was - or if there was one at all - and whether or not Cee-Lo’s rapturously profane “Fuck You” qualifies as a dark horse candidate.

If Cee-Lo’s single from his upcoming The Lady Killer album fits that description, then the tracks from Chicago rapper Hollywood Holt’s new mixtape are like resurrected musical zombies wreaking havoc on listener’s mindgrapes from beyond the grave. Oddly enough, if the title of Holt’s mixtape, which is absurdly long and gleefully profane, is to believed, then we’re listening to the musical scraps of an upcoming official album. If these are Hollywood Holt’s castaways, then we’re positively terrified for what’s to come: this tape features a stupefying amount of excellent, pulse-pounding bangers.

We would’ve been blasted this all summer long had it not for the fact that the tape was only released this past Saturday. But, considering how our brows are as sweaty as Mel Gibson in a Pilsen taqueria, we say if it feels like summer, then it must still be summer. At the very least, Hollywood Holt’s music certainly invokes the season’s party-like atmosphere. The tracks on These Are The Songs That Didn’t Make The Album But Are Still Cold As Hell So Shut The Fuck Up Vol. 1 (whew!) range from loose and limber skitters reminiscent of A Tribe Called Quest to harder-hitting tracks like the house-hop of “Body Clash.”

But for our money, the best and most clever track on Songs is “Brains!!!,” which combines two things everyone loves - satiric raps and zombie movie humor - and sets it to a minimalist 8-bit synth-beat practically made to inspire hand-claps. It’s all kinds of awesome, as are the other 14 tracks. If these were the songs that didn’t make the album, then Chicago better get ready for the huge hip-hop bomb Hollywood Holt will inevitably drop on it.

Download Hollywood Holt’s These Are The Songs That Didn’t Make The Album But Are Still Cold As Hell So Shut The F*** Up Vol. 1 over at Hollywood Holt’s website.