Mixtape Review: Laws – 4:57

Download: 4:57

The Brazilian-born, Florida-raised emcee, Laws has been creating a great deal of buzz around his impressive 4:57 mixtape, hosted by DJ Don Cannon.

The Grammy award-winning group of producers, The J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, first discovered the cocky artist after he built up a reputation as a standout battle rapper in Tampa, FL.

Fans of the confident Laws are well aware of his brash persona, with the majority of them having already enjoyed his Your Future Favorite Rapper mixtape, hosted by DJ Smallz.

Often a new emcee with a cocky attitude can be quiet annoying, but in Laws’ case, the attitude doesn’t come out of nowhere.  After all, the 4:57 project, sponsored by J.U.S.T.I.C.E League and Asylum/Warner Bros, is one of the new year’s best mixtape releases!

Speaking on his music in the tape’s “We Like It” track, Laws spits, “I’m tryin to make that kind of record where you save the package/  go on fuck around and make a classic.“  That should be the goal of every aspiring artist.

Below, I’m going to showcase a few of the standout tracks from the project:

Laws – “Murder”

“Murder” is one of the early tracks off the tape and features some of my favorite lines with “I’m not offensive, but they like, ‘did you hear the shit he said?’” and “see my skin tone and wonder what’s my story/  soon as the beat drop, then they stop talkin.”

Laws references a strange mix of hip hop artists with the lines:

“Being patient saves embarrassment,
I’d rather be a Kweli than a Hamilton,
In person, situations get handled different,
But if she swings, best believe I’ll Gucci Man the chicken,
I’m not violent, but my pride is sick.”

I like the way he worked in a reference to Charles Hamilton getting punched by a girl.  That video will forever haunt Hamilton’s career.

Laws – “Flashback”

“Flashback” has the upbeat feel present throughout most of the tape, which works extremely well against Laws’ flow.  This unique sound should help lead to a great deal of crossover appeal for the emerging artist.

Here’s a quick excerpt from the track:

“I’m writing my memoirs in Cairo,
By the pyramids, life like a slide-show,
Back home more clowns than a sideshow,
I’m tryin to do this for my mother like Psycho,
They ask me if I’m ever quittin on the mic though,
I tell ‘em yes…. then I tell ‘em Pysch! no,
Too many people still confusing me with my clones,
So until my record spinnin like a cyclone,
I’mma Cobra Kai flows, no mercy,
Walkin a green mile, no Percy,
I’m at my late spot, they trynna irk me,
I’m sayin’ this is a celebration Charlie Murphy!
And if you look like you’re lame,
I got a bodyguard that look like Blade.”

That line about doing this for his mother like in the movie Psycho, had me cracking up!  Also, in the final verse, the image Laws paints of himself performing full-energy for an empty gymnasium, except for one janitor whose feeling the show, is pretty impressive as well.

Laws – “Colors”

Calvin Harris provides the funky electro-pop hook which makes “Colors” the most catchy song on 4:57.  I can really see female fans loving this dance track.

There’s a lot of similarities between Laws and, fellow Hispanic emcee, Emilio Rojas throughout the duration of the tape, but on “Colors” the comparison is most easily noticed.

Laws – “Shining”

“Shining” is the most hyped track off the mixtape as 9th Wonder laced it with an addictively smooth beat.  The other impressively produced track that’s grabbing hip hop fans’ attention is the DJ Khalil-produced, “Hold You Down.”

Keep an eye out for Overtime to be dropping soon.  The project is a No DJ version of 4:57 and contains a few bonus songs, the first of which came yesterday with “Look Easy” featuring Diz Gibran.