Hells Kitchen

With his first official album, Shakedown, coming out this spring, Red Cafe’s new mixtape Hell’s Kitchen is certain to hold fans over as he delivers another album-quality tape with a handful of bangers and guest appearances from 2 Chainz, Wale, J. Cole, Fabolous, Trey Songz, and Meek Mill among others. The tape begins with the title track, “Hell’s Kitchen” which sets the tone for what’s to come, as Red lets it be known that he “Went to sleep the champ / woke up with the title.” The drum-heavy track is complimented by a high-pitched vocal sample, which is most audible on the hook as Red asks listeners a question by stating “Hell’s Kitchen / What Else?” On the very next track, “His Story,” Red starts off his verse by rapping about putting on for his label, Bad Boy Records (“Mase went to church / I signed to Bad Boy / Got right to work”). The strong start continues on the remix to the Jahlil Beats produced, “Let It Go.” Red Cafe is joined on the track by Bad Boy boss Diddy as well as label-mate French Montana and takes time to make reference to Will Smith’s character in the movie Bad Boys (“Ain’t been a better bad boy since Mike Lowery”). In the song’s third verse, 2 Chainz then makes the first of his two appearances on the mixtape, continuing to build his momentum in 2012, as it seems like he’s been featured on every mixtape released so far this year.