Mitchy Duz It

Mitchy Duz It proves that Mitchy Slick is carrying the torch for West Coast gangsta rap, and it also affirms his taste as a hip-hop fan. The album utilizes instrumentals from the annals of California rap history. Some are fundamental classics (“Kreepy Trails” borrows Too Short’s “Freaky Tales” and “6 In the Morning” reprises Ice T’s seminal street rap of the same name), but most of these songs look toward overlooked corners of the Cali rap canon. In “How Many Really Bang,” Mitchy lays a vicious gang rap over “Shot Callin’ & Big Ballin’,” an essential but lesser-known track by the Whoridas. “Dues Paid” reanimates the beat (and the sentiment) from “Pay Ya Dues,” a 1989 anthem from the unheralded L.A. duo Low Profile. Mitchy draws his inspiration from an earlier age of West Coast gangsta, before The Chronic and Doggystyle sold the sound to mainstream America. Mitchy’s heroes are WC, the young Ice Cube, the young Ice-T, the young Eazy E. He's smart, angry, and completely uncompromising, and without simply imitating the past, Mitchy Duz It places him in a long tradition of hard and heavy West Coast street rap.