ARTIST SHOWCASE: OCEANS 7

To say that the Jermaine Dupri orchestrated and produced Ocean's 7 boutique rap/soul concept and mixtape will be met by most music listeners on the underground/internet with great disdain and anger is the understatement of the year. However, to say that the mixtape isn't solid work by a group of solid artists would be an understatement as well, as between superproducer, mogul and hip hop impresario Jermaine Dupri, multimillion seller and crossover legend Nelly, pop chart smasher Usher, underground and mixtape sex man Trey Songz, and relative newcomers Johnta Austin, Bryan Cox, Tyrone Davis, they have all bases covered, and for all intents and purposes should do exactly what they do on the 3000 and 9 Shit mixtape released this week on Jermaine's global14.com blog.

The "Oceans" concept comes from the high rolling Vegas lifestyle adopted by so many stars these days. As of late, the Vegas strip has experienced a superstar resurgence in the hip hop community, as, between Clinton Sparks' influential "Body English" party at the Rock and Roll Hotel, to performances and mixtape drops occurring with great regularity at The Palms and other hotels along the Vegas skyline, for the monied hip hop set it's definitely the "swagger advancement" look, and definitely for those in the most advanced of tax brackets, a key way of defining yourself as part of the hip hop elite. The Ocean's 7 crew are the folks who own all their own gold and diamonds, cars and homes, entangle themselves with the finest and most comely of female acquaintances, and/or are associates, influenced by or understdies of these people. These are the men who look at the seeming pretenders in the game like the perpetually outed Rick Ross, embarrassed by a hoodrat Charles Hamilton and others and shake their heads in shame. These are the elite movers and shakers of the industry, not just the music, and treat the mixtape as an affirmation and commercial advertisment of lifestyle instead of an amalgamation of "hot new tracks."

With that being said, the only misnomer is the mixtape's title. The mix certainly isn't indicative of 3000 and 9 Shit at all, but rather, if the beats were sampled from the hits of 1979 or 1989 instead of 2009, with the lyrical content contained within could be the soundtrack to 1999, as between all the talk of wack rappers claimin' true, booze, sex and high class party lifestyle, Puff Daddy and Ma$e in shiny suits could be on the cover instead of seven African-American brothers striking their best Ebony Magazine 100 Most Successful Black Men issue poses. But there's something to be said in that. They're actually "keeping it real." This mixtape is not the soundtrack for the urbanite working a 9-5 and grabbing a beer in a dingy hipster bar or robbing Peter to pay Paul to assuage the blow of mountainous college loans. This is the soundtrack for the trust fund set, the dot com kids that got out before the bubble burst set, the reality TV star set, the folks that benefitted from the ginormous economic disparity of the Bush administration set.

Standouts on the album include "Amazin'" from a production standpoint, as Kanye's "Amazing" is given a bit more urgency as a track with the bridges being removed and replaced by the insurgent marching band drum loop deepened in the bass department that really excites the reworking. Trey Songz, namely on first single "Too Much Swag," and "Ain't I," brings the raw perversity mixed with church honed vocal harmony that seems to be perpetually lacking (with reason) on his mainstream albums, but what has made him in the African-American make and female underground communities a mixtape messiah, and has buoyed him and kept him viable, active, and, well, able to appear with the giants on this mix. Speaking of, the work by JD, Nelly and Usher and Bow Wow's guest spot on "Too Much Swag" is perfunctory at best, a pleasant reminder that the artists are still out and about, but nothing truly earth shattering. Jermaine Dupri attempts to bring the heat though to keep up with the young R & B crooners which is appreciated, but his lyrical content definitely comes off as still on "Money Ain't A Thing," which isn't terrible, but not indicative of any growth or anything we haven't heard before. The real stars of the grouping are the young singers, who embrace being on this collaboration as an opportunity to position themselves and introduce themselves to the urban and pop mainstream, and all come through with flying colors, all, to borrow from T-Pain just as comfortable being "rappas tert sangas" or "sangas ternt rappas."

Overall, if a fan of the underground beneath the GOOD Music, boutique shopping, shoe hoarding populace, this likely isn't the mix or the group of artists for you. But, if you're annoyed by the emo turn of the underground, and are missing, or are waxing nostalgic for some older, late 90s - early 00s golden age of hip hop feel, this is for you. And, if you're wondering about where ultra romantic, sensual erring on the side of naughty, late night, red light R & B is on the expanding musical spectrum, take a listen as well.