This is the 2nd mixtape from Denver emcee, singer/songwriter, producer, engineer and fashion designer James Garcia or the artist formerly known as Young Wicked. Coming up as 1/2 of Ax Murder Boyz with older brother Bonez Dubb in 1999. The duo only released 4 albums before Insane Clown Posse signed them to Psychopathic Records in 2005, making their label debut the following spring with fall Blood In Blood Out to moderate reception. However, their next full-length outing The hand of God considered by many (myself included) to be their best, given how much they both elevated their lyricism and Otis' production. This resulted in him becoming Violent J's protégé many years later, dropping his solo debut Slaughter: It's the best medicine in the fall of 2015. Fast forward a few years later, Twiztid signed Young Wicked to Majik Ninja Entertainment in the midst of their feud with Psychopathic to make an equally fantastic sophomore effort The Return of the Prodigal Son. But after rebranding 3.5 years ago Activated which had more of a mainstream sound to it, the originally disbanded sequel Young Wicked: The Mixtape is finally seeing the light of day.
“Deep” is an aggressive rap rock opener that speaks to the fact that he was expected to come out of the basement to show the underground who he really is, while “Eternal” goes the trap metal route organically admitting that he can. Rest in peace with these sick muffs on the road, although heavy auto-tune on the hook just isn't. “No Masters (Shake da Shit)” works on those bleak chords and piano sirens that say you're looking at a king coming for everything just before rap-metal “Resurrected” admits he feels darkness clouding his mind .
Meanwhile on “Shallow Grave” we have Young Wicked on some boom bam shit that gets everyone in the mind of a killer leading into “Pushing On” that mixes some kicks and snares with guitars as he discusses trying to figure himself out of recently. “Chrome” bars pushing hard, similar to the way they press, warning that you don't want to be smoked by him, but then “Flowers” drops in with the metallic sheen of the snare once again calling itself a goat to be to sacrifice in blood.
The song “No Slackin'” matches a live trap approach that never slows down, while “Crucifix” returns to boom bap reminding everyone that his last album was activism and now he's back to stabbing victims. To conclude Young Wicked: The Mixtape 2the closer to “Keep Out the Cold” is this guitar ballad that sings about keeping whiskey in its veins for the title.
Activated has it's moments, even though a lot of rockers I know didn't feel the more commercial approach it needed, but this to me is the best thing James has done on his own since then The Return of the Prodigal Son almost 7 summers ago. It's much rawer than the last LP we got from him and we continue to get a taste of his artistic evolution over the past 25 years whether it's his bars, his singing, an evolving self-produced sound or mixing /mastering.
Rating: 8/10
