Mr. Assassin – "All About My Cake"

Hailing from West Side Cleveland Is Mr. Assassin. "All About My Cake" is the standout track available from him on his profile. Although it makes use of the currently overused trend of dropped octave vocals on the chorus, it's a solid effort from this artist. The more I play it, the more I like it. The production is a catchy multi-layered beat that isn't too complicated or too simple either. The track features some other artists that I wasn't able to distinguish, but didn't do much for the track so I didn't research it very hard. Lyrically I think Mr. Assassin is coming pretty hard, better than average delivery and his lyrics are nice too. All in all I look forward to hearing more from Mr. Assassin, but for now I'm gonna stick with "cake" and wait for new shit and hope it doesn't feature a wu-tang of other artists. He wants to put west side out there, and I think he's moving in the right direction. 3.5 out 5 - NME   

 Play Havoc

Man, Play Havoc. Between these guys Proph the Problem and Drastic, I don't know how the fuck we ain't the next ATL, or Houston. I hope all these dudes get their dues, but right now I'm gonna enjoy them as the area heavyweights I believe them to be. So what do I like about em'? As would be asked on my favorite radio program The Players Ball on 89.3. Well I'll tell you, first and foremost, the production is champion shit, you will know DJ Sleepyhead. And definitely not to be dismissed is the duo on the mics opposite DJ Sleepyhead, Hi Jinks and Ill Advise. "Ohio Stats", the track I've heard get played the most often, is a great track, although I think I prefer "Concrete" but both are great. The collabo effort of Cleveland, Columbus, and Lorain these guys come together great, my only complaint (and this may be due to the degradation of sound quality from being converted to MP3 for myspace.com) would be the vocals at times lack clarity, this don't sound like basement shit by any means, but when compared to some of the other stuff going on right now, I think that's the only negative thing I could say. So 4 out of 5. And really only cause of the vocals being kinda hard to distinguish.  - NME

Proph the Problem

Honestly my favorite MC right now. Even if his profile pic is 3x bigger than everyone else's. But I guess that could be a representation of his ability in comparison to the other 99%. I don't know who is doing his production, but big props to them also, all his tracks flow effortlessly and allow Proph to really shine. He has def got a knack for choosing the right beats for his style. I first heard PTP on 89.3's "The Players Ball" program and I was just amazed that this guy was from Cleveland (actually I believe he said Lakewood specifically) and sounded like that. Check out "It is what it is" from his site. The beat is banging and Proph I think sounds his best on that track. He has an album out entitled "Welcome back to Hip-Hop" that you can pick up via a link on his profile. So far everything I've heard from PTP is amazing, including a verse on the AIDS awareness track featuring a grip of fellow Cleveland MC's. So today I award my first 5 out of 5  - NME

Never be a lame.

No. Drastic will definitely NOT be a lame should he continue to lay tracks like this one. Never Be a Lame is by far my favorite track posted on his profile, the hook stays with you for days and I can't count how many times I played it tonight. Dras breaks down being a lame for all those out there listening who might fit the profile. His flow doesn't bite off any MC I can think of, which is an accomplishment all in itself. Def looking forward to his album by the same name which appears to be a 6 track EP all produced by Young Zup. So don't be a LAME, get in line to pick up Drastic's new effort. We will be reviewing that also when we get our hands on it. I rate it 4.5 out of 5. - NME