MIMS: Guilt Review

After seeing the video for Move (if you wanna)," the first single off of MIMS sophomore album Guilt, my interest grew a litte bit. Before hearing that song and seeing the video, all I really knew of MIMS were his hit song "This is why I'm Hot" and another song that got less attention, "Like This." Both songs were two huge examples of why mainstream hiphop has been going downhill and the main reason why MIMS got so many people calling him a ringtone rapper. I was one of those people and thought nothing of the East Coast rapper. In fact, if it weren't for that video, I probably never would have even gave the album a chance. However since "Move" had gotten my attnetion I figured I would check it out.

Before really listening to the album, I decided I would check to see the buzz around the album and see what people were saying. What I found was pretty interesting. At HipHopDX.com, a site I visit pretty much everyday, I read a review absolutely destroying the album, saying that it showed no growth and was just another flop of an album. Read the review here: (http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/reviews/id.1151/title.mims-guilt) However, on the other hand, I looked at itunes to read the reviews that listeners had posted and what do I find? A cumulative rating of 4/5 stars out of about 170 total people. I sit at my laptop and write this review to give you the deciding vote and tell you this: In my opinion, hiphopdx's review is very wrong in many many ways. I believe that this album was actually a pretty solid step forward for MIMS and with the occastional bad song, find it to be a good album with energy and variety. Let me tell you why.

The first track takes on the same title as the album itself: Guilt. The reason MIMS chose this as his title is because guilt is exactly what he is feeling. He explains in this song his view about what happened and why his first album rightfully got so much criticism. He discusses through witty comparisons how he really got caught up in the whole "rap game" and the success that came with it. The song talks about how he is guilty of lovin' the cars, clothes and money that his rap success brought and as a result, he ended up making pretty terrible music. These material possessions blinded him and caused him and his large ego to make songs like "This is Why I'm Hot," which had absolutely nothing new or innovative to offer to the already slumping rap industry. He also adds he is still extremely thankful for the things that he has and the gifts he has been given. Overall, it is a good intro to set the mood and explain the basic concept of the album.

Moving onto two of the more hyped songs off the album, "Move(If you wanna)" and "Rock 'N Rollin'." "Move" is the first single that was realeased a while ago. MIMS brings a solid lyrical performance through a short winded methodical flow. With the deep bass banging in the background the entire song, MIMS raps over a more low key beat one minute, and explodes into a louder high energy drum break the next. This combination along with lines like
"I don't undrestand how can I have so many ha-ters Knowin I'm there father like my name is Darth Va-der I can get you hemmed up while I'm bein tay-lored Then I slide off to the side like a fa-der"
make for a sick song. The song "Rock 'N Rollin" got a lot of hype because of the appearance of KC native Tech N9ne. On itunes I literally saw multiple comments saying they bought the CD purely for the appearance of Tech N9ne. The duo don't disappoint bringing a concept similar to GZA's "Labels" in which they string dozens of rock 'n roll band names through clever lines over a dark beat with a demonic like chorus. Tech N9ne does overshadow MIMS a little bit purely because his uptempo verse sounds better than MIMS who raps pretty slowly(almost like he's talking) the whole song.

Contrary to what DX, writes in their review, I was very impressed by the song, "One Last Kiss." I thought the song was a breath of fresh air with the mixture of an alternative style song combined with a synthesizer to set up a heart felt song from MIMS discussing how much he misses his mother and how he just wants to spend more time with her. I dont really see how DX could say that this was a "straight pop record that falls flat," unless they didn't actually listen to the lyrics.

Some more songs that I enjoyed off the album were "On and On," "Chasing Sunshine," "Love Rollercoaster" and "I Do." "Chasing Sunshine" gets the point accross that he was distracted from his girl by his success, and that he has realized he can have all of the cars money and material things, but without her, he can't be happy. "On and On" has a tight beat to express some more of his feelings about his guilt and how he has changed. Saying "talking bread every verse he gets/talking about head every verse he spits/But that ain’t him man, that ain’t MIMS man," Mims tries to show that he realized his faults and knows he needs to fix them. "Love Rollercoaster" featuring LeToya Luckett will probably be the next single off the album, as it is a typical song about strife between him and his girl over a simple beat and melody. "I Do" is a song made for specifically for couples. Over this catchy piano based beat, MIMS uses the marriage term "I Do" to convey the message that relationships can be difficult, but they can work out if they are meant to.

Of the remaining songs, "One Day," "Makin Money," "Be My Hustla," "In My Life," and "Heal Me," I really wasn't feelin' "Be My Hustla (its the same mainstream bs)," "One Day(didn't really enjoy the flow or the appearance by Ky-Mani Marley)" and "In My Life(just wasn't feelin it)." "Makin Money" I really like the beat and he has some tight metaphors, but the chorus is kind of annoying and it is the opposite of his album concept. "Heal me" is kinda slow, but is very solid lyrically.

Overall I believe the album is a very big step up for MIMS and I applaude him for realizing his flaws and making an effort to fix them. He has shown me growth and maturity in this album (with the exception of a few songs), and I largely disagree with HipHopDX's review. He stepped his game up lyrically and put them on a lot of catchy beats to make for an overall great listening experience that will bang in your headphones. I'll give him somewhere around a 7 or 8/10 stars. If he makes this much of an improvement for his next album, it should be a great one. Keep it up Shawn Mims Jr.