The Downcast’s 2011 mixtape of the year

Danny Brown: XXX

Danny Brown is pissed off. He raps about drugs (adderall, crack and ecstasy), dead celebs (Cobain, River Phoenix, Anna Nicole Smith) and bitch-slapping rival MCs (with an open hand, of course) on his 2011 mixtape XXX. But the Detroit MC finds time to mention fun stuff like Teen Wolf, McDonald’s purple creature Grimmace and, of course, Maya Angelou. All of that with a bad ass collection of spacey, sci-fi infused beats to keep the cadence. We didn’t know much about Danny Brown and his Andre 3000-inspired yap before this year, but we’re pretty much blown away with his mixtape, XXX. I’s great… like 8ths of grape ape getting stuffed in my suitcase.

Download “Monopoly” [via Pitchfork]

More of the year’s best mixtapes…

	Curren$y: Verde Terrace Honestly, we couldn’t keep up with Curren$y spitta’ this year. He released four mixtapes, two proper LPs and collaborated with a slew of artists (Wiz Khalifa, The Black Keys, STS and Smoke DZA among them). But we did play the shit out of his Verde Terrace mixtape (free download). Curren$y’s flow is as deadpan and buoyant as ever as he spits cold over an eclectic range of beats by DJ Drama. The first half is standard, chillwaving urban-lounge Curren$y. But things get a lot grimier and rugged on the much stronger second half where you’ll find some of the best mixtape cuts of the year: “Crack BC”, “Ways to Kill em” and Wu-banger “Sky Miles”.
	Exile – Intro to the Outro Mixtape Underground LA beat wizard Exile puts together a dense, channel-shifting sample-and-beat fest on Intro to the Outro (free download). This is some of the best clip-and-bump hip hop we’ve heard since Madlib crossed paths with Strong arm Steady on 2010′s mighty In Search of Stoney Jackson. To bring his hazed, glitchy soundscapes to life, Exile enlisted an incredibly rad team of MCs for Intro to the Outro, including them boys from Strong Arm Steady, Blu, Co$$, Fashawn, Guilty Simpson, 50 Cent, Talib Kweli and MF Doom. Dig “Forgive Us (f. Aloe Blacc)”.
	A$AP Rocky – LiveLoveA$AP Harlem MC A$AP Rocky debuts with LiveLoveA$AP (free download), a dense, hazy collection of hip-hop psychedelia. Slow-bumping beats are adorned with shadowy synths, the occasional glimmering melody and warped, echoing vocal textures. Clams Casino lends his stoned trip-hop touch to five of the mixtape’s tracks, including standout “Bass”. Also on the highlight reel are the swerving, promethazine-soaked “Trilla” [via Stereogum] and A$AP Rocky’s breakthrough thumper, “Peso”.
	Amerigo Gazaway – Fela Soul This is the best mashup of the year: Fela Soul by Amerigo Gazaway (free download). We actually only heard like three mashup albums this year. But. We passed on a lot of other mixtapes to make room for this killer experiment where classic De La Soul rhymes are carefully grafted to beats made of clipped, spliced and hip-hopped Fela Kuti jams. It’s seamless. It’s so funky. And it’s one of those mixtapes where you think, damn, why didn’t I, or someone smarter than I, already do this? Essential track: “Itsoweezee”.