Phil Ade – A Different World, Mixtape.

Phil Ade is a competent, if generic rapper from DC whose new tape has a high concentration of dope tracks. It’s an amalgam of blog rap topics and styles: weed, parties, inspirational ‘just tryna make it’ joints, etc. The man can pick beats and he can even drop an exciting verse or two when he lets some hunger into his verse. Bink! supplies some regal post-Roc-A-Fella beats (“King,” “Scoreboard”) and Oddisee laces the title track with an amazing indie-rock-ish beat that deserves some radio play. Phil gets busy with his own producer Sunny Norway too. “The Let Out (Interlude)” is a strange but welcome dance break in the middle of the tape and “The Weekend” with U-N-I is as smooth as any Curren$y track.

The highlights on A Different World are many. I’ll take Phil Ade’s vision for pop rap over Maybach Music Group’s any day of the week.