8ball

For literally twenty years, 8Ball has been putting out albums. From the first release he and MJG dropped on Suave House back in 1992, up until the two LPs the duo released in 2011, this gold-toothed Memphis legend has fed his family from reciting the same Southern spiel for longer than half the rappers on the radio have been alive. Yet, last week, the space-aged pimp still managed to cross one more thing off the list of things to accomplish in Hip-Hop by dropping his first mixtape, Premro.

Still, despite being new to the free download game, this release could very easily be a solo album from Ball. Named after his government title and executive produced by Drumma Boy, everything about this project screams retail, from the conceptual gems (“What’s The Rush” & “The Man Under The Bridge”) to the DJ-free listening. On top of that, the features (MJG, Bun B, Killer Mike, YelaWolf, 2 Chainz, Slim of 112, Don Trip, Styles P, Waka Flocka, Gangsta Boo & Trae) could compile a compilation LP of their own.

So, if you’ve been taking Fat Boy’s Premro tape for granted, just remember he probably could’ve released it on shelves, sold upwards of 30K copies and cashed in five figures. Instead, you get it for free. If you can’t salute and support that, you might be better off digging a hole and jumping in.