Oh hey there, nerds and trekkies. It's me, Bill Nye's 2nd cousin aka your atypical blogger aka a man with not so many names, but you most likely know me as Waverly Spades, the nigga that never actually posts shit. Today, I come to you with Top Rookie's latest release, Down By The River. Top Rookie is a three-piece rap group out of Minnesota consisting of Miley Woo, Emceeven, and someone not so new to the blog: Tommy Prospect (formerly known as TGK). This is one of those things I've been saying I'd listen to and review for a while, so I'mma sit down and do it now! Since this is a group, I'm going to do something I've never done before and tell who had the best (or at least, my favorite) verse in the song.
Mind's Eye (My World) - That beat is nice and chill. Mr. Prospect went on some other shit with that flow. The whole track is just a chill start.
Best verse: Prospect
3.4/5
Lost For Days - Miley's flow was craaazy. I love that hook. Prospect verse was a great followup. M7 came off strong, but she still had such a laidback sense in her voice. I don't know what I think, but I love it. Like, I didn't expect it would be as dope as it was. (I mean that in the best way possible.)
Best Verse: M7
"If you don't believe in me, then you's an atheist" - Emceeven
4/5
Recordin & Roastin - WOO. I was tired of the typical form (Miley, then Tommy, then Emceeven). This beat is hard. Tommy is hard. I love that verse. At this point in the mixtape. I'm starting to notice that Miley sounds like he's trying to sound like Ab-Soul on the flow tip, but it's not fully his thing, nawm saying? It's not bad, just could be improved. M7 said "you should always watch your back in my streets," and I sorta laughed because these are little white children we are talking about.
Best Verse: Tommy Prospect
"I'm so hot, my flow cold. You burning up while you shiver" -Tommy Prospect
3.2/5
Triple Threat - AYYYE. Much love for the So What sample. Shoutout to Prospect for that "Got yo girl on my snapchat" line.
Best Verse: None really stood out to me.
2/5
Rumble In The Jungle - This track vibes.
Best Verse: Miley's 1st one. (yeah lol)
2.3/5
Abstract - This is honestly the best track I've heard so much. I blame the beat and the change in flows. Ayo. I know M7 did not just make a reference to Kim Kardashian's sextape.
Best Verse: Miley
"I'm just happy that I grew up with a pot to piss in" -Tommy Prospect
4/5
Demonstration (ft. Wavey Nico) - So this is supposed to be the club banger, huh? This track is so hypocritical. The chorus is "We are selling records at a record rate!" Do these guys not realize this is a free mixtape? lol. There are actually like a lot of funny lines in this track. "I play this for yo team and they Joseph Gordon- LOVE IT." haha that is gold. I don't like the mixing so much on this track. No shade, the Wavey Nico guy is hella basic. It's a very quick, Rick-Ross style verse. (It reminds me of Ross' verse in Monster.) That group hook sounded so dope!
"You see reality, I see a dream." -Tommy Prospect
Best Verse: tie between Prospect and M7
3.2/5
Let You Live - This beat is pretty trill. The first line to stand out to me was "We hitting up that party like you hittin up that Pornhub." Hey, Ruby, don't just diss PornHub! They've never done a nigga wrong! Everybody's flow was fucking ridiculous! Wait a minute, this is M7's 2nd porn reference, but who's counting. wut.
Favorite verse: all three of these were actually the dopest verses I've heard on the tape so far (despite the line against pornhub). The each had their own unique feel. I liked them all so much ahha.
4/5
Interlude - Chill ass beat and M7 teaching some lessons. I doubt much more you could ask for.
(not gonna rate this one because it didn't feel like a full song, nawm saying? moreso an interlude, which it is.)
Drugs on Everest - Shoutout to Miley for that chorus because that shit is groovy as fuck.
Best Verse: Tommy
4.3/5
The Passion - "Shoutout to them freshmen." WAIT. TOMMY! AREN'T YOU A FRESHMAN? C'MON SON. That beat feels like some OF type shit. Rap dope. Stay dope. Miley talks about so much sex in his verse that it's pointless and annoying.
"High off that sweet life. Pot cookie" -Tommy Prospect
Best Verse: M7
3.8/5
Toro - If you wrote out a trap beat on paper and gave it to an orchestra to play, this is what that beat would sound like. It's awkwardly, hard as masturbation with your mom downstairs. I got a bit sad when the beat dropped because I thought the song was already over and I like this joint! haha. Miley's verse is pretty funny. Everything's trill here.
Best verse: Miley Woo
4.8/5
Big Things In The City (ft. Jahkobi Martin-Senna) - WHOOOOOOOOOO IS THAT SAYNGING?!? PAIOKDE;LAVJEO;AKLDPOEIK! Jahkobi gets much love for that hook! Those Top Rookie cats get much love for knowing this dope cat. Crazy verse. Gotta love the jazzy ass beats. I love the irony in Tommy's verse. He talks about having new chrome kicks, but he's taking the bus and spent his last penny already. That's an urban artist for you, haha. This is easily my favorite song on the mixtape.
Best Verse: MILEY SINGING
4.89999999999999
Runaway - fuck I don't even know what to say about this one. Tommy made this beat, so they askin' fo a lease.
Best Verse: Tommy Prospect
2.7/5
Uneducation - This beat gets much love. I'm assuming Thomas sang some shit, chopped it out, and played it. I really fucks with it. This is probably my favorite beat on the tape. This is the most inspirational track on the tape. I love this song a lot. Miley had my favorite verse this whole tape. It was very intellectual, but still kept that inspirational feel. I love the whole combined chorus thing. the beat is so orgasmic tho... those synths at the end!!
Best Verse: Miley Woo (M7 is a close 2nd)
"In the end, we all gon die, so why you keep debating?" -Miley Woo
4.9/5
So here we are again. Another review, another ending. I feel like I have a lot to say about this group, but then I'll probably write this and it won't make so much since, so let me dive into this. First of all, there are no production credits anywhere and that annoys me. I'm assuming everything is made by the group's Producer/MC combo, Tommy Prospect. I applaud them for having all originals. The mixtape starts pretty basic to me, but as it progresses, their songs progress. There is sometimes more maturity in themes and ideas that I like. A big problem I see throughout the tape (moreso in the beginning) is that they'd be just rapping and talking. Like, they'd be saying stuff, but it wouldn't have much substance and they'd put in a fast flow to make sound cool. A lot of rappers do that and think it sounds cool, but what's a dope flow if you're saying nothing? What would Kendrick Lamar be if he switched topics with Cheif Keef? nawm saying? There would also be some typical lines I heard throughout the tape that just annoyed me ("I eat all of these rappers like they are dinner" -Miley Woo, "I'm caged in these bars" -Tommy Prospect, "What I'm cooking up"). Overall, the tape showed such potential with a mix of soulful stuff to just hard, trap type beats. It's a weird project that was going in different directions at time, but it was cool, you know?
74% - C
This review was brought to you by Waverly Spades and now I'm off go school shopping. All the shit is like 1 cent at Walmart right now before they start advertising.
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