There are some pretty weird beats on this Soulja Boy tape. "Retro Gamer" was produced by Odd Future's Super 3, snare stutters impossibly disjointed with a belching noise underneath, just not a pleasant sounding instrumental. "Charlie Sheen" is pitched up the way we imagine the Kids Be Gone teenage sound-repellant might sound. Then things gets kind of great. "Weed Shoes" is a solid title and a popular lifestyle, the slow strings on "Stacks On Deck" are instant iTunes five-star. His "Good Life" estate description is charmingly un-rappable, like all of his best flows. He has always been a strange dude, and since Lil B doesn't really talk about SODMG anymore, it doesn't seem like Soulja Boy's co-opting anybody else's wacky. If at moments young rap seems pass him by—Soulja Boy's still only 20—with luck the post-spotlight shadow will only make him odder. It's telling that he's not in Austin, that's he's releasing a mixtape this week, and it's kind of nice he's still doing his own thing.
Download: Soulja Boy's 1up Mixtape
