Mixtape Review: Jadakiss – The Champ Is Here Part 3

Jadakiss‘ third installment of his The Champ Is Here mixtape series plays out like a true Pay-Per-View event, complete with fight commentary and skits put together over stock audio of a cheering crowd.  Also, in honor of the boxing theme, DJ Drama, who hosts the tape along side DJ Green Lantern, changed his name to Dram King, ha!

Jadakiss comes out hard on The Champ Is Here 3, with cocky lyrics that show his confidence and willingness to fight.  The first skit even has Jada recalling how he’s been training for this tape by “running five and a half miles every morning.”

There’s a number of quotable tracks on the project, such as “Soldier Survivors,” featuring Nas and Sheek Louch, where Jada says that he’s going to ”treat the track like Rihanna and Chris Brown it.”  Other songs, such as the DJ Absolute-produced “All Falls Down,” show Jada’s versatility as his flow kills the smooth production and compliments the R&B hook.

I’ve broken down the lyrics of a handful of the standout tracks below:

Jadakiss – “Who Shot Ya.”

Before jumping into Biggie’s classic, Green Lantern properly states, “you know you gotta be a certain weight class to fuck with this beat/  No lightweights allowed.”  Living up to that statement, Jadakiss holds his own on the track with impressive lines such as:

“You a coward in jail you could never live.
Nah, you barely living out here,
I’m the reason you breathing
It’s like I’m giving out air,
I got stocks on the block,
And I’m giving out shares,
To niggas that don’t talk, cause they giving out years,
I don’t know you, you ain’t familiar,
And I don’t care who shot ya, cause they ain’t killya,
As far as the word play, I’m a son of a bitch,
These niggas is decent, but ain’t none of ‘em Kiss,
MTV ya’ll know, I’ll punish the list,
Them niggas jury is fake and ain’t none of them rich.”

Jadakiss – “She Likes Me” (Featuring Nicki Minaj)

“She Likes Me” has one of the more interesting collaborations on the tape, as Jadakiss and Nicki Minaj exchange playful lines over the sped up, bass heavy beat.  The Harajuku Barbie wisely decides to use only one of her many voices on this track that’ll surely be heard by Jadakiss’ NYC fan base.

Here’s Nicki’s verse:

“We was at the Heat game, peep game,
Let him see the g-string,
Eve Saint levon size fives, a petite frame,
He like come on Nicki, really why you keep playin,
He said his name was Jada, I said ohh that’s a unique name,
I’ll go and see him out in Yonkers in the back blocks,
He in the matchbox, ballin like the mascots,
He said I’m dead hot, pull up in the brass drop,
I see them hatin ass bitches in the back drop,
That’s why I kiss him right in front of them,
He don’t want none of them,
Even when it’s dark, I be sunnin’ them,
Plus I keep the thing thing mighty tight,
And if he think I like him, then he might be right.”

Jadakiss – Here I Go” (Featuring Yo Gotti)

Yo Gotti joins Jadakiss on the remake of Mystikal’s “Here I Go,” and his southern flow feels at home on the track.  Here’s a quick excerpt from Yo Gotti:

“Black on black Benz, that’s a Bat Mobile nigga,
I got money from Maine to Mobile, nigga,
It go women lie, men lie, numbers don’t,
Niggas get pop’d, testify, but Gotti won’t,
She a five star bitch, at least she thinks so,
That’s a fake bag shorty, I don’t think so.”

Another classic beat is explored in Green Lantern’s remake of Dr. Dre’s “Deep Cover.”  The only other track with a “Green Mix” is ”Slow Down,” where Green Lantern changes up the feel of Fat Joe’s “Slow Down.”  Jadakiss spits one of the funniest lines off the tape on “Slow Down,” with “Bank account like Timbaland, it got fat again,” AH-HAA!

Jadakiss – “Somehow Some Way”

I’ll end this review on a high note, with the smooth “Somehow Some Way.”  This track, purposely left till the end of the tape, celebrates Jadakiss’ victorious verbal onslaught.

Jadakiss reflects with:

“I’ve been in the hood, I’ve been in the traps,
I done shot it out with niggas, I’ve been in the scrap,
I know who my friends are and where my enemies at,
Niggas be sending me threats, I’m just sending ‘em back,
I hesitate to squeeze the day that hell freeze, never,
My mixtapes be better than niggas’ LPs…
Ya nigga, I’ll bless you without sneezin,
Stretch you without reason,
The best that’s out breathin, best,
K-I-dub down,
Ya’ll scared of your hoods, but I love mines.”

Jada spits some serious lines over this smooth track!

At the end of “Here I Go,” Jadakiss breaks into a skit where he recalls watching Money May speak during an episode of the boxing show 24/7.  Commenting on his competition, Mayweather states “these niggas is talented but I’m gifted.  This ain’t something you learn, or go to school, or get a coach for.  You gotta be born with this shit. They can build a staff around you, put a machine around you, but if it aint in you, it ain’t in you.”  That’s the same attitude Jadakiss displays in this tape, as he aims to take on the whole rap industry.

Stream/Download – The Champ Is Here 3: