Kool A.D. – 51

The Greedhead/????? Records/Veehead world takeover continues, this time with another salvo from the bodaciously bearded baron of brainy braggadocio and one half of Das Racist, Victor Vazquez AKA Kool A.D. The Kool one is back with a new mixtape called 51, and it’s here for your eager consumption fresh on the heels of January’s The Palm Wine Drinkard.

For a change of pace, Victor recorded all of these tracks in Oakland – way on the other side of the country from DR’s NYC home base. Landing on the left coast after visiting family in Cuba, Kool A.D. was inspired to make a set of tracks featuring production from almost exclusively California artists, and numerous guest spots from some of the Bay’s best up and comers.

The main producer is Amaze 88, who played with Victor in a hardcore punk band in high school, and also happened to take his sister to prom. They’ve obviously buried the hatchet on that one though, as Amaze is behind eight tracks on 51, and is joined by other producers like Young L, Trackademicks and Kechphrase.

There’s also frequent guest spots from some of our favorites, like MondreM.A.N. and Squadda B from Main Attrakionz. They link up on four of 51’s tracks. And if that wasn’t enough, Himasnhu, Meyhem Lauren, Trackademicks and even Boots Riley of the legendary Coup all lend guest verses. But, as expected, the star of the whole thing is Kool A.D., whose gloriously laid back flows consistently impress with their humor and wit, languishing in greenery depicted on the cover.