I used to buy DJ mixes all the time. They offered me the opportunity to check out remixed popular tracks, PLUS new music from hip-hop and reggae artists. After listening to DJs Faust and Shortee, I got back into the hip-hop mix scene, but I yearned for something harcore. So when I hooked up with DJ Next and his associates DJ Andrew Unknown and DJ Mekalek I was treated some of the best rap out there today, nothing like the generic crap heard on mainstream radio.

     DJ Next's Back to the Grill really gives the listener the feel of a Summer and the famous barbecue block parties! The beats were tight and from the beginning the listener knows they are in for something special when they hear artists like Truth Elemental, Karma and Esoteric spit out a hot homage to the NWA's Straight out of Compton, with the awesome Straight out of Boston. The melody and delivery followed the same formula of the NWA classic: Straight out of Boston/Crazy motha f***ka named Big Truth/with a bang that will knock your teeth loose. The same can be said for Rok One and Immortal Technique's rendition of P. Diddy's Bad Boy for Life with F**ked up for Life. I especially like this track because it has one of the best attacks on the mainstream I have heard since my own damn Minners Commentary Corners.

You don't fool me with those thug references/we both know what your sexual preference is/Your true colors showing through/about as loud as pink/can't even join a boy band/cause you out of sync/Here's what happens when you can't spit without a drink/or when you let Hot 97 tell you how to think.

     J Next doesn't follow the mainstream homage tip, with the exception of MOP's Ante Up. DJ Next hits us with the music he feels should be in everyone's stereos. Birthwrite's E-Z and Apathy, Romen Rok and Alias' Nextclusive Barbecue Sauce are hard hitting tracks that prove to the listener that manufactured hip-hop is not all that is out there. You don't have to sell your soul to be a good rapper, which is the theme for Slug and Eyedea's freestyle that completes this CD. Slug and Eyedea's rhyme is a story about a would-be rapper who is faced with changing gimmick in order to make it big, instead the star chooses to stick to his guns and attempts to make it on his own. Add this with some awesome turntable mixes (true old school DJ Mixing) like James Earl Jones and Where's Our Money and you have a complete party CD perfect for any barbecue.

     DJ Andrew Unknown and DJ Mekalek offer up some awesome exclusive freestyle mixes. Much of the same can be said for the great DJ Next. These guys have keen ears for the next fresh beats and rappers. Through it all the freestyle feel permeates, and the roots of hip hop emerge in a masterful mixing of jazz, old school, reggae and R&B. A lot of the tracks sound unrehearsed and instead of sounding bad, it gives the rap a raw feel that is missing from the choreographed mess we have today.

Ain't nothing fake here sonny boy/the game is real/It's like I speak with my hands/cause I say what I feel/feel what I'm saying...I spit salt water/Keeping fans afloat/but when I start overflowing/better lay in the boat/because I'll leave you shipwrecked/all blown apart/I got rappers seeing double/like Noah's Ark -Word of Mouth's Up Against the Wall Hallucination.

     Got Mix? DJ Next, DJ Andrew Unknown and DJ Mekalek have the fix for the mainstream letdown.