Mixtape: The Soul Tape 2
Artist: Fabolous
Released: November 22, 2012
Again, on Thanksgiving Day, Fabolous drops a follow-up to last year’s The S.O.U.L. Tape- the appropriately-titled The S.O.U.L. Tape 2. While discussing the project, Fab says “It’s different from some of the other music that I normally do or put out through my other releases. We kept the vibe and the music kind of soulful, sample-influenced. This one, I think I have a little bit more…”. The beats are sample heavy and mellower, and the lyrics are emphasized by stories of love, Money, and experiences that he uses as life lessons. The first half of the mixtape is all Fab-no features and no guest appearances. But all of a sudden, everyone comes out the woodworks like J. Cole, Joe Budden, Pusha T, Teyana Taylor, Troy Ave, Wale, Meek Mill, Trey Songz, and Cassie.
The first song starts off with Fabolous spitting over Jay Electronica’s Exhibit A (Transformations), which is one of the illest songs on The S.O.U.L. Tape 2 from the sample alone; and Ironically, it’s also called Transformation.
“It hurts to even think about it especially in the streets when you tryna get a drink up out it/black hoodie I that quarto cinco out/and put that iron to your clothes like I’m taking winkle out it/take every Franklin, Jackson ,Grant, and Lincoln out it/ look you in ya eyes and tell you don’t you even think about it…”.
Fabolous has always been known for his punchlines, so we know that he can dish them out where they may. Whether they’re clever, or corny, they’re always comical! “For The Love” to put in plain words, is him explaining why he’s rapping as a career: the love of his life, the love of money, and the love of his son.
“Make your first million don’t make it your last, don’t come if you ain’t ready don’t make it to fast/can’t learn shit if you never make it to class/ can’t just recycle what should be placed in the trash…”
A majority of the TST2 features sound bites from The Late, Great Notorious B.I.G., and “B.I.T.E.” (Bitch I’m Tryna Eat) is no different. It is simple as it sounds: I’m trying to make a living, don’t get in my way, because I’ve got to eat. To ‘eat’ means that you’re working hard to get to where you want to be, and at the end of the day, if you’re not making money, you can’t buy food, so then… you’re not EATIN!
“Bitch I’m tryin to eat before its rest in peace on m t-stone/ want my eggs scrambled hard-extra cheese and a t-bone/gotta recipe on these streets hoe/take some hustle, add some muscle make a mill called success/now I ain’t say u gonna induct stress I ain’t say it don’t come with pain/couple losers don’t come with game/ they ain’t eatin call it stomach pain/ they callin you but ya number changed…”
“Louis Vuitton” features J.Cole and well it should have been J.Cole’s track because he owned the song but Fab still dropped jewels:
“ Louis Louis all she ever talked about was/ Louis Louis al she ever talk about is Louis Vuitton/ and nigga I can’t fuck with her no more…”.
Materialistic girls can get annoying; you just have to gravitate away from her because shallow chicks are the worst!
The final song, Want you Back comes with familiarity. We’ve had those exes that we hate that it had to end, and we want to make things right. Having Joe Budden as a feature on this track is perfect because Budden and Fab have similar troubles because both of their relationships are publicized. Teyana Taylor put in her verse as well and gave the same story but from a woman’s perspective. Three tales of the heartbroken on one track leads to a pretty good ending.
“Ask myself why I fight when its blowin over/God gives his hardest fight to his strongest soldier/ so I’m fighting for us long as there’s reason to/ you wanted to give up on us long as there was season 2…”
See this is kind of what Fabolous always needed to be doing. His albums always feel, overproduced, and imprecise. Had he just released 12 tracks at a time, of his best raps, over simple, more traditionally hip-hop sounding beats… He would have been on the short list for GOAT a long time ago.
Make sure you download The Soul Tape 2.
-Courtney Deleon
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