Termanology + ST da Squad: Hold Up, Wait

Crews and squads are usually led by a leader. And that leader reigns supreme. Rarely do we see that a king ushers in a worthy prince. Not to be overly critical but we get the same faceless dudes on Term's new ST mixtape. The 14 tracks are by no means weak though, it's been on my Winamp repeat since midweek. I'm digging the straight music on the tape; there's no illegitamite shinning. There's no fanfare that they're waiting for either; they just push it out. The worst part of the Squad is that they seem to be ridding Term's coat tail by shadowing his flow. And that's never a good thing. I can tell them apart by the differences aren't anything to tell about. Ghetto does it more than once and a few of the other hangers-on play 'mr. me too' too. However, I've never had a problem with Ea$y Money. With the video, it was nice to see the Squad, you know, put names to faces. As one of my friends remarked, "They're all 'Ricans. And why does Clip look like he should be in Miami?" Yeah he's rocking shades in Boston's cold ass weather. Damn, I thought Ghetto was black. Regardless of how I feel, it's more Term and that's always a good thing. He's just become my next favorite rapper in the last few months. Add original good beats, longer song times and okay rhymes and you got me. Plus Term and Co. offer just enough to make still salivate. They didn't kill the tape... so I can wait for more.

"Music Industry", "Welcome to the Machine" and "Has It Ever Occured" were heard in advance and they're still banging. Those 40 seconds of Term on "Music" are euphoria. I'll reiterate that Term's anti-music biz rants are a nice quality. We know he won't sell out. "Has It", from Hood Politics 5, has Ea$y Money and Term, a cool combo, again going at Rappers and the biz. "Every song ya on is like P.M. Dawn."

"It's ST the Squad" is the copycat song. Maybe they wanted uniformity with the flow, I don't know. It sort of ruins the song at times. The street wars M.O. exhibited also gets to me too. "It's Our Time" has Ea$y showing off, in a good way and Term using ST as a rhyme point. "If we don't make money, we gon ST-ill."

The beat on "The Burial" is chyperish. Here's where da Squad shows their worth. At times, as hard as they may sound, the rhymes are kind of funny. I don't want to continue to tear da Squad apart but listening to Term's verse, he shows why he's the kid. He manages to not say anything but he expands his subject matter with his choice words and their inflection. It's his lyrical dexterity that sets him apart.

st da squad term mixtape