The Desert Storm Mixtape: Blok Party Vol. 1 - DJ Envy

Alright, let’s be very transparent with everyone…

Prior to my typing this out and going through my rating process, I had no idea that these mixtapes are just compilations of songs that the DJ has produced to these artists. 

That being said… I am with it. Having all these songs in the same place is quite the luxury. DJ Envy yelling every 20 seconds could get old, but I didn’t find it to interfere with how I enjoyed the tape as a whole. I gave the whole project a decently high score of 8.5. This era of NY hip-hop is damn near untouchable, and this tape does a great job of checking all the boxes. Jay Z, check. G-Unit, check. Busta, check. Fab, check. LOX, check. Like, come on. Recipe for success. 

Cover is something pretty basic. Learning that it isn’t an actual album helped me understand why the cover and packaging would have been so underly produced. 

First track is a 1 of 1 Hov track exclusive to this tape, which is a statement within itself, considering this is 2003 Jay Z we/really talking about. This is the second time that I noticed someone saying “Aint no other king of this rap thing… one shot, they disapprearin’…”, learned that this is a line in the Biggie song “Kick in the Door”.

Last track is a solid song uping the city that they’re from. Not a bad song at all, just nothing imma try and revisit probably.

Project as a whole is solid, but I am going to have to be ranking these mixtapes differently now. We’ll see…

Stand Out Tracks: H.O.V.A. - Jay Z, What Goes Around - G-Unit & Lloyd Bank$, the beat on Big Things - Birdman, Mikey & Coke