Mr Incredible's Illegal Music II: The Nairaview

Illegal Music 2 is the second installment in M.I's Illegal Music Mix-tape series in which he samples beats and songs that he likes and tries to make them his own. The first installment in the series was released for his "die-hard" fans and it proved to be quite popular (especially) among the hip hop purists in Nigeria, who may have frowned upon some of the more "naija radio-friendly" songs in his studio albums. Illegal music 2 is no different in that aspect, especially after MI2: the movie which was panned by critics and fans for being too overtly "commercial", M.I probably tried to win over his 'old' fans by giving them something a bit deeper and richer. In a rather "selfless" move (one that most other rappers would refuse to make) M.I serves as a sort of mentor, letting others shine as he features 19 artistes, 16 of which are upcoming.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="486" caption="The Illegal Music 2"][/caption]

M.I will definitely win over "lost" fans with this effort (he won me over, and I had lost all hope). This project saw the return of the hungry M.I of his classic debut album (MI: Talk About It). The Jude who made crowds go mental  was definitely at work here.

#IM2 is a solid body of work, true hip hop no doubt (sic), the artistes he featured on the mix-tape all delivered. This album really inspired me, I won't lie. Henceforth, I won't hate on M.I again, he got my respect back now. I'm a believer
I really like what M.I did on this project, I'm even gonna let all the negatives slide. it was on point! M.I has proved himself as a great rapper, then an intelligent business man but now he showed he's a fan of the music, I like how he put on other rappers he was probably feeling out there but who were relatively unknown on this record. Boy, did they take their opportunity! when many of them eventually achieve mainstream success, they can always remember when M I gave them encouragement. Like he said on one of the songs on the mix-tape, he's a trailblazer always trying to change the game, he certainly did this time, he came across as more matured, deeper, hungrier  and despite what he may say, he surely has been paying attention to constructive criticism. Personally, one of the ways I judge a great album is by how many times I press the skip button, this is definitely a fantastic job. I downloaded the album outta curiosity (yup, that silly well-oiled hype machine that works so well for chocolate city got to me *rme) and I ended up listening to all the songs on the mix-tape back to back.  This mix-tape suggests that There are a lot of talented rappers underground, the mainstream guys better watch their throne. I must say, however, that the mix-tape indicates that all our naija rappers learned how to rap from the same rhyme book. Punch line after punch line, its gets boring, tiring and played out after a while. (I guess that's modenine's fault, lol). A couple of controversial lines here and there (ahem, is it just me or Jude took shots at Vector?), great work. worth the wait.
The mix-tape features excellent production & sampling by MI himself (he produced majority of the tracks),  as well as beats from Kid Konnect, Ikon and Studio Magic (this studio magic guy ehn, na winch!)

        "M.I Killed The Beat, I'm Rapping In The Afterlife"

Notable tracks -- "Heart of the city" f. SDC & Ruby, "Coming Home" f. Yemi Alade, "Wild Flower" f. Ruby, "*Insert Expletive*" You f. Ice Prince, "N'otis" f. Pryse & "Superhuman" f. HHP. To be honest, i love all the tracks!

And Finally, The Nairaview: 5/5. I just can't find major faults on the album, a very solid effort!

you can download the mixtape FREE from our friends at free 9ja music HERE

as well as letting me know your favorite lines by @MrTuneri on twitter