Mixtapes: Time To Change (Album)

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    Posted: 27 August 2017 at 11:41am
After two years, it's here. Time To Change. You can listen to it on Apple Music, Spotify, Itunes, Google Play, Amazon Music, etc. I'll get paid off the streams, you can also listen at the link below on soundcloud. Let me know what you guys think! Let me know if you think it's a classic, I certainly do. Can't wait for y'all to hear it!




Lyrics @ https://genius.com/albums/Zj-mission/Time-to-change
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote iLL ScriptureZ Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 August 2017 at 3:42pm
Peepin... may write a review.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote iLL ScriptureZ Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 August 2017 at 5:44pm
Pre-Listen Thoughts: Truthfully, I don’t know what to expect. My memory can be horrible at times and I believe the last time I heard a Mission track I was using Drake references towards him. I’m actually pretty excited to see someone on the site create an album with such strong promotion and using avenues to be heard. According to Mission he has been working on this for 2 years so let’s see what he’s working with. I’ll be using a grading “out of 10 system” and I am going to but hard with my numbers but also fair as in my taste in music may differ than his target audience. 

15 Tracks with just over an hour of listening value. Let’s begin.

Oval Office: Being from NJ and 5 minutes from each Philly bridge I appreciated the Rocky intro. I don’t think there is an appropriate way I could ever reflect how beloved Rocky is in Philly. A lot of rival fans of ours usually elude to our only real sports legend is fake and from a movie. 1.) Untrue and 2.) everything Rocky is in those films is Philly through and through. Moving along. Other than then instrumental tag (which sometimes cannot be avoided) is very “anthem-esk”. I always enjoy a piano. I liked the choir effect in the background of Rocky. It gave that speech more power and I kind of felt myself getting energized with his words and really was amping me up. That was legendary move by you putting them. Okay, you came in with a Philly like Meek flow. I am mad at it. I think it does require a certain energy though. I thought if anything your energy could’ve been upped a bit to really like make a motherfucker break their neck to this shit. It was dumb heavy and ready to blow up when you started spitting and I was slightly let down with the energy level. The beat kinda fire fr fr. You’re riding it well, I really like that delivery and flow on this. Your echoes are real nice when needed. As the song built your character began to shine. I was on a rollercoaster. The build was great, then I felt let down and as it progressed I found myself excited again. At the end, you slowed me down and brought me back to earth. And finished with a nice album reference to get me set for the next track. 7/10

Go There: The hook is catchy as fuck. I didn’t mind the harmonizing. You came in dumb strong then it switched again. Boy you on one right now. You’re combining a bunch of popular styles into your own. Beat is okay to me. It does its job for the purpose of the track. The bridge into second verse was slightly off to me. Maybe it just wasn’t as clear as it could be? Short track, only 2 verses. Nothing to complain about on that but I think you did the beat justice. 5/10

Legacy: This is my third time listening to this track. I thought the voicemail was really clever. It served nicely as an interlude smoothly into this track. Which, I am in love with the instrumental. You are so comfortable on this beat. You are so relaxed and confident and it is shining through. I like how you have an ability to switch your flows and deliveries. It’s refreshing. I like the hook, a lot. The da-da-da-da is a nice, flavorful, soulful touch. Second verse came in so tough. The dubs on hostile was slightly off, came in slightly distorted. Yeah, this one is something special. I don’t have much to say because I thoroughly enjoy this song. 8.5/10

1am in Madison: Hmm… this is enjoyable as the verse to hook was seamless. I had no idea it was a hook until it came around the second time. I heard the beat changing etc. but I though you said fuck it and was gonna just do you. Very strategic move and I think it paid off. The last part of the track would be my Drake reference but it was better on this track. I’m going to have to come back to this and continue my feed as I’m not sure what exactly to write. So after listening, I do like this joint. The hook really does it for me. 6/10

Ashes To Beautiful (ft. Anissa Cheyenne): Okay, first track with a feature. Not doing the J.Cole thing I see. The intro to this beat is very “pure”, I enjoy the passion in the melody. The reading seems like the voicemail from Drake’s grandmom on that one track he did on Take Care. Maybe it is because it has the same effect. Giving us a sermon and shit. I can see why you put it in there because that intro was long as fuck. I was honestly let down by the beat a bit. I thought it was going to give me more emotion. I don’t know if I liked the “shaker” sound used. Delivery as you came in was only okay, dry though, and not on par with the other tracks. Harmonizing saved you I think. The beat break was fire. I would’ve probably chopped it down slightly and let the beat breathe on that part slightly. It was too much when you could’ve had less and just the beat. Hmm.. same lyrics as first verse? The song is surprisingly catchy even though I don’t seem to a fan of it? Good job on that. 4/10

Rise Up (ft. De Ray & Holly Drummond): Love her voice and love the beat. She bad? Sounds it. The beat is dumb ill. Something that definitely needs a positive message spit over it and that’s exactly what I am getting right now. This could be a radio hit especially in the time need we are in, in the US. The drop with her hook is real nice, the hard kicks and then the love of the guitar. This is nice. You got one here. Nothing else to say. 9/10

Rid of It: Interesting beat choice. I thought it was going to come in like a Anno Domini joint AOTP style with that melody. Then it turned clubby. It bangs a little bit. The radio play of it has the value. I guess makes it a head nodding instrumental a little bit. The hook is dumb catchy however it sounds boy band-ish. When you were singing it all I could think of was NSYNC or Backstreet singing it. Other than that this was a decent track, nice message of cleaning out your shit and your circle to be better. 5.5/10

All My Life: This beat hard. Think your presence needs to be a little bit stronger. Only complaint I have thus far. The message honestly hits home for me. Similar struggles I been through. I liked this track a lot until the chop and screwed part. I wasn’t prepared and it seemed as if you needed something different and planted this in there. It really didn’t help the track at all, to me, it more so hurt it. Would’ve been a 6 but the chop got me. 5.5/10

Modern Art 2 (ft. D.M.T): This beat leaves a lot to do with it. You seem to be a very Christian rapper. A lot of references throughout the whole album thus far. Is that the direction you are going? Ah.. if so I am starting to see some NF comparisons although his emotion is on a whole other level. Is there a Modern Art 1?.. Your flow in some spots on this relentless. I’m happy you didn’t fall victim to the slow BPM. You destroyed this joint honestly. Uplifting, positive nature. 6/10 

Hear Me Now: This beat is funky. I fucks with it. Welp, Christian Rapper is confirmed in this track. I like how you’re almost battling the folks who don’t think you’re style is conformable to hiphop as it is not trendy. However, this track is Drakey. You have a lot of his characteristics in this track minus the actual lyrics. But the presentation of said lyrics are his style and swagger. Not mad, not hating but it would be dope if you had more of a you in these situations outside of just the lyrics. Your approach could be more original. Don’t think it adds or takes away from the track. 6/10

All Love (Ft. Kamry Sharnay & D.M.T.): That intro was pretty dope. I was not feeling the singing that came in though. I think it shoulda went right to spittin’ because that came in aiight. I needed a little more presence and confidence on that first verse. The hook is dope, but the singing didn’t work in this track at all imo. The second verse, seems abstract with the Andre 3000 approach. But again, I still was wanting more from the artist. I did get that power I felt from some other previous tracks. The chick chorus was dope so you get half a point for that. 4/10

In Time: That sample is dope. You did the beat justice I think. This a slight upgrade from the previous track. You’re writing is something I haven’t touched on much while writing these feedbacks but it has improved. Some lines are eh but you get away with it with decent delivery. 5/10

Gave My Life: The beat is real dope. I’m not sure how I feel about the singing in this one either. Some other tracks earlier in the album it worked for me. Idk If it’s doing it for me on this joint or not. I’m up in the air. The verses are nice though and really save this track. I think this was an okay way to close out the album. 5.5/10

Post Listen: First thing I’d like to point out is that on your Soundcloud, I could be crazy) but you say you have 15 tracks but there’s only 13 with the album cover next to it. Also, it threw me off because in the player your embedded it shows other songs but on my phone they are not there. So with that said I went off of what I had to listen off of (which was my phone) to listen to the tracks that were there. Secondly, the album overall was done well. It’s probably constructed and more thought out then what most people can do. Most folks taker their best 14 songs, add a “bonus track” and call it an album. You created something with a direction with motive. I have to give you mad love for that. The overall sound was consistent. You had some scenarios were I felt could’ve been executed better, mixed better or thought out more. But not of nothing, I think you did a hell of a job. Legacy and Rise Up were two tracks that really, really shined on this album. I think you’re writing has improved as well as your rhyming. You’re taking advantage of your ability to combine different styles, deliveries and flows to somehow fold into one another to make as your own. We all do it. I’m actually surprised I liked the project as much as I did. I am a big NF fan and his emotion gets me every time and I could care less what he says but honestly what he says is also fire and real. This is something you are striving towards but in your own way. Congrats on an album man. 

Since there are 13 tracks with a total possible score of 130. Let’s add up the score I gave each song and see where we end up and then I can touch on replay value. 

Oval Office: 7/10
Go There: 5/10
Legacy: 8.5/10
1am in Madison: 6/10
Ashes to Beautiful: 4/10
Rise Up: 9/10
Rid of It: 5.5/10
All My Life: 5.5/10
Modern Art 2: 6/10
Hear Me Now: 6/10
All Love: 4/10
In Time: 5/10
Gave My Life: 5.5/10
-----------------------------
Total: 77/130 – 59% replay value. Now… that number is derived just by dividing the fraction however I will say 2 songs have 100% replay value some others not so much while the majority I wouldn’t turn off if they were on. So rounding up, I think 60% is accurate. 

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote Mission Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 August 2017 at 6:30am
Well first of bro, mad props to you for the detailed review I appreciate it fr. I definitely can see what you're saying on each song, Anything Else, and Time To Change are both tracks on the album, not sure why they didn't come with it. they were originally released as singles so that may be why. Anything Else is pretty crazy you should check it if you havent, ive actually performed the whole thing live twice and its a 6 minute song. And yes, there is  Modern Art 1, you can find it on audiomack if you look up Zj Mission - Now or Never 2. One of my best songs to date. I really am grateful for the harsh critique, helps me see the fine details where I can improve in my next projects. I actually did do the Cole thing with my last album, you can peep it on itunes and soundcloud called "Like It Or Not". 15 tracks, no features. it's on the LA in the mixtapes section as well. next project drops november 26, these albums are all part of a narrative. all my albums and EPs connect with each other. Again thanks for feed bro i'ma definitely take it to heart. Definitely peep the two stragglers you won't regret it.
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