Guest Review - DJ Coutz "The Secret Stash Mixtape"

Please note...the following review was submitted by LFTD fan Scott "Selah" Bailes. The contents of this review are the opinion of Selah, NOT Live From The Dub.

Producer DJ Coutz returns to the scene with his eleventh official project; a compilation album ironically entitled The Secret Stash Mixtape. The title is ironic because many of the songs and beats utilized on the compilation have already appeared on many various projects. In his usual fashion, DJ Coutz has brought together an eclectic group of emcees. In large part, these emcees hail from DJ Coutz’s home state of West Virginia, but representatives of Connecticut, California, Kentucky, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee provide contributions. This mixture makes for an interesting listen as DJ Coutz’s productions attempt to bring cohesion to a group of diverse elements, a task they execute quite well for the most part.

The prevailing tone of the album is one of “gangster rap” with the majority of the subject matter revolving around criminality, materialism, and womanizing. Immediately, the stage is set for this approach with the intro track Ray-P’s “Just Dirty”. Ray-P’s demeanor on the microphone is one of confidence that hints at a “swag” era influence as he delivers smooth bars with a twang over DJ Coutz’s blues infused beat. Following up Ray-P is Mike The Martyr, who brings to the table another banger with “In The Loop”. While sticking to the same script content wise, the intonation of Mike The Martyr’s voice and his flow have a very “east coast” feel versus Ray-P’s “southern” influenced stylings. The beat accommodates this vocal switch-up well with its triumphant sounding horns, “chopped” instrumentation, and vocal sample. These two tracks evidence DJ Coutz’s skill at matching MC’s with the proper production, a skill he exhibits consistently throughout the album.

DJ Coutz makes a slight falter sonically by placing Dre City and MC’s “64 Bars Deep” directly after “In The Loop”. Though the track is enjoyable it has a very “in your face” feel to it which upsets the gradual build up that the album had been progressing with up to this point. This track feels more like it should have been located after Fluid Outrage’s “Stand On My Own Two”. Things quickly get back on track and a few songs later one of the true gems of the album crops up in Tone Capone’s “ATF”. While the track possesses content having to do with alcohol, tobacco, and firearms, it simultaneously promotes and criticizes their use, which both lumps it in with and separates it from the tracks leading up to it. Tone Capone delivers excellently worded verses and rides the funk inspired beat with precision.

One of the stronger interlude tracks of the album, Daniel Aliff’s “Wide Margin”, follows “ATF” and provides the first true change in content on the album. Daniel Aliff has a lyrical tendency for battle rapping which holds true for this particular track. His subdued yet poignant rhyme feels very natural over the simultaneously eerie and enchanting production provided by DJ Coutz. Shortly after “Wide Margin” comes another gem of the album Euro P and Scoop’s “Dr Rhythm”. Once again, the somewhat monotonous streak of gangster-esque subject matter is broken as Euro P and Scoop spit bars about unity through music, struggle, empowerment, and revolution. Several other tracks on the album deviate from the “gangster rap” model including Sleeps “PTI”, Gatsby The Great’s “Piff Hop”, and Null & Void’s “Fuck Rehearsals”. These particular tracks all carry a witty punchline driven style that makes for a good listen as you try and decipher everything that’s being said.

Other than the monotony of the gangster subject matter, the majority of tracks on the album are of high quality and compel further listens. Beyond those already cited, standouts include Fluid Outrage’s “Stand On My Own Two”, S Dub’s “CT Freestyle”, Bub V’s “Unstoppable”, and Nahh Nitti’s “Smokestack Lightning Intro”. However, several tracks should have been left off of the album for different reasons.

Young Chapman’s “Freestyle is broken into two separate verses performed over two separate beats. During the second verse Young Chapman apparently has some microphone issues and several lines at the end of his verse fade in and out. This negatively affects the professional quality of the album, which is pretty consistent otherwise. At the very least, his second verse over the second beat should have been removed, as the first verse is serviceable. Dre City’s “Let’s Smoke” suffers from an overwhelming beat and underwhelming verses. This is one of only two productions on the album that I would consider unlistenable. The second being Daniel Aliff’s “Graceful Decay”. The beat has a disjointed feel and is somewhat uninteresting and while Daniel Aliff’s lyrics may be of good quality his reserved emotion causes this already dull production to fall flat. While several of the bonus tracks are decent they don’t really add anything to the album with the exception of the collaboration track “College Girl”, which features representatives from three of the most well known crews in the West Virginia hip-hop scene and is a certified banger. Stevie Fresh’s “Smoke Rings” should definitely have been left off for the simple fact that the concept of the track has been overdone and is extremely played out.

All in all, this is a well constructed album that could have been slightly improved by trimming the fat. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph DJ Coutz is a prolific musician, but in some cases the sheer quantity of material he produces seems to have made him overzealous in song selection. The album clocks in barely below the eighty minute mark making it an extremely long listen that the listener is not likely to get through without skipping a few tracks.

RATING: 7.8/10