Review Summary: I have the pleasure of introducing the 2000’s, six-foot-four, Rastafarian, Piru version of Eazy-E from Atlanta, Georgia to Sputnik…Waka Flocka Flame.
Fun fact: The most misspelled name in hip hop is W-A-K-A F-L-O-C-K-A F-L-A-M-E. Another fact: this guy’s a ***ing punk. Young, thugging, and dreaded up, Waka Flocka Flame is Rap’s 2009 Rookie of the Year. Backed by fantastic beats via his link to Gucci Mane, street knowledge, and crackhead energy, Salute Me or Shoot Me is the debut mixtape that sparked Waka Flocka’s street popularity.
Waka Flocka Flame may not be the best lyricist, “My rap sheet long, like Shaq feet,” but my GOD is he thugging. Being an actual real Blood, and a former drug dealer, sometimes it seems as if Waka thinks he’s to too hard to drop a punchline. But his actual rapping skill compensates for this. Despite this being his debut, Flocka has the simple, but brisk flow of an experienced veteran. Combine this with his authoritative delivery, his manly voice, and his off the chain energy and you get an absolute monster on the mic. Waka, pardon my French, ***s *** up (see, gangsta-crunk anthems Oh Let’s Do It & We On Da Way.) His rapping style could best be described as possessing twice the energy of Busta Rhymes in his prime, the commanding delivery of a drill sergeant, and the voice of a black lumberjack. For such a young’n, Waka is one of the best pure RAPPERS I’ve heard.
As for beats, if you forgot, Waka is from So Icey Entertainment, a place where even faggoty weed carriers like OJ da Juiceman get good beats. There seems to be an endless abundance of awesome beats amongst S.I.E, and for this tape, not surprisingly, he got a good handful of some awesome beats. Being one high-energy crackhead, he – not surprisingly – got mostly southern crunk beats. Synths, claps, and high octane bass are ever-present throughout the mixtape. From the Party Like a Rockstar-esque Rock Hop to the explosive, authoritative synths and frequent snares of Iced Out to the crunk beats like Oh Let’s Do It and We On Da Way, whatever it is, Waka slays it.
So, with such high praise for such a young rapper, you maybe wondering, why such a relatively low rating? Because, despite all the listening pleasure garnered from SMOSM, it has little to nothing substantially in terms of lyrics. In addition to this, stupid mixtape mishaps like interludes and such just kill the percentage of good tracks, as there are a few just-okay tracks (although absolutely epic tracks like Oh Let’s Do It, We On Da Way, No Jumper, and Iced Out compensate for this.) This is a really good gangsta-crunk mixtape, but Waka Flocka will never become superb until he re-ups his lyrical abilities.
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