After the first chapter of Darkside, Fat Joe begins working on a new studio album, then stops and begins to release only singles, among which "Another Round" featuring Chris Brown, that brings again Joey Crack in the top ten of rnb singles after a decade, "Pride N Joy" with Kanye West, Jadakiss, Mos Def and Busta Rhymes, among others, "Instagram That Hoe", "Yellow Tape", "Ballin'" and "Love Me Long Time". In 2013, Cartagena closes his series with the third mixtape. The effort is produced by Streetrunner, Cool & Dre, Sap, iLLA, DJ Premier, 9th Wonder, Diamond D and Young Hype. The guests are Dre, Action Bronson and Nick Shades.
Another mixtape, last in the Darkside series before Joe goes to prison for four months for tax evasion. Gloomy, jazzy, soulful rhythms, hardcore and smooth verses by Joey Crack. Among his best works in the last fifteen years, he exploits the intense qualitative prolificacy of some of the best producers there are still in the game, such as Streetrunner, Premier, 9th Wonder and Diamond D: their cuts are easily the best of the tape. There would also be Cool & Dre, but unfortunately their two productions are poorly performed, first with the light "Madison Squares" then with the rapid and dystopian "Bass", in addition to the autotune hook in the title track.
Sore point: Joe, as many before him, tries to sample the classic dropped by the Cortex "Chanson d'Un Jour d'Hiver" to tryna create a huge banger. Originally, it was Rick Ross who, with his Triple C's, brought the Cortex song to the group's unique album, a piece that Tranzformerz let slip quietly in the background adding to it a skeletal boom bap.
Followed by the MellowHype, which in the mixtape version of "BlackenedWhite" reproduce the song: Left Brain slows down and chokes the rhythm, creating a very dark, dystopian, almost silenthillian sound, brilliantly. The song's also dealt with by Smoke DZA before arriving at one of Logic's most successful mixtapes: C-Sick speeds up the rhythm that perfectly fits Logic flow in one of his best tracks ever and one of the best third verses of the period.
From that moment on, everyone tried a little: Jeezy, DITC, Scarface, Royce da 5'9", Termanology & Curren$y (among the best to interpret the piece: the sample is left scroll without alterations, the rapper drops verses with a calm and smoothness flow); "Mural" by Lupe Fiasco will remain in the memory for a long time and, to 2019, remains unattainable. Joe fails, he actually sounds really bad over this Young Hope production.
One of the highlights of this mixtape is "MGM Grand": jazzy boom bap realized by Streetrunner, Fat Joe runs smoothly and delivers mid-nineties, at his best over this great rhythm hook. The soulful beats of 9th Wonder (eponymous track), which uses an excellent sample in background, and of Diamond D ("Cypher"). "Also Your Honor" with a rhythm invented by DJ Premier, deserves an honorable mention: Preemo creates an excellent jazzy beat with rock elements, and a hook-bridge scratched, this piece is completed by Action Bronson verse with an outro that pays tribute to Nas.
Around this time, Joe wants to end his feud with 50 Cent. Published by Terror Squad Entertainment, the mixtape is released via DatPiff, being ignored by critics and public despite the quality.
Rating: 6/10.
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