"Billionaire (Remix)" by Travie McCoy featuring Gucci Mane, T-Pain and Bruno Mars
As perfunctory and half-hearted a remix as there's ever been, changing up the beat slightly and adding some guests to attract urban radio spins that it won't get either way, with one of the verses from the original getting recycled to open it up. Even Gucci just throws a relatively bland 12 bars on here where the most eventful thing is that he says "freakin' bad" as opposed to Bruno Mars's "frickin' bad."
Best Verse: T-Pain
Overall Grade: D

"Hard In The Paint (Remix)" by Waka Flocka Flame featuring Gucci Mane
The first couple times I heard Waka Flocka I thought he sounded like Bone Crusher, then "O Let's Do It" made me figure that impression was probably wrong. I get that vibe again from this song, though. Don't feel real strong either way about this song or the remix, I like that Gucci sometimes tries an uncharacteristic doubletime, but it doesn't totally work here.
Best Verse: Gucci Mane
Overall Grade: C

"Pretty Boy Swag (Remix)" by Soulja Boy Tell 'Em featuring Gucci Mane
As you can see, this month's RRC is practically a rerun of about a year ago when Gucci Mane got out of jail and instantly dominated the remix circuit. Looking forward to him killing some good songs, but for now he's just guesting on junk like this. I think his "new Lambo" line was quoted too many times by the time I actually heard it for me to enjoy it at all, and the song is just over on the wrong side of Soulja Boy obnoxiousness for me to get into, which is a shame because I really liked "Gucci Bandana."
Best Verse: Gucci Mane
Overall Grade: B-

"Ride (Remix)" by Ciara featuring Andre 3000 and Bei Maejor
The original "Ride" is one of my least favorite songs of the year, but this is a total improvement just by replacing that sluggish synth fart beat with something much breezier. No idea who this Bei Maejor cat is, but he leaves no real impression and Andre kinda blows through one of his four verses a year without doing much of note.
Best Verse: Andre 3000
Overall Grade: B

"Tightrope (Wondamix)" by Janelle Monáe featuring B.o.B. and Lupe Fiasco
This lineup is appropriate since I'd been thinking lately about how one of the most critically acclaimed new artists of the year and one of the most critically reviled (Monae and B.o.B., respectively) both basically got their whole style from later bad idea jeans-era Outkast. This is aight, but really it just takes away a lot of whatever charm the song had to begin with.
Best Verse: Lupe Fiasco
Overall Grade: C

"Window Seat (Remix)" by Erykah Badu featuring Rick Ross
This seemed like a goofy idea on paper but Ross, who will rap on pretty much any damn thing at this point, make it sound like just another one of his plush R&B tracks, for better or worse. And even though he just simplifies the song and talks about being on a plane, the flow is pretty good, it works.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B

"XXXO (Remix)" by M.I.A. featuring Jay-Z
I mainly checked this out for the thrill of hearing Jay-Z rap over a beat co-produced by Baltimore club producer Blaqstarr, but it's not the best work from either so it's only any fun on a conceptual level.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C-

This entry was posted on Monday, June 28, 2010 at 1:26 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.