Charles Hamilton – Sonic the Hamilton Mixtape
Interscope Records
On the track “Two Left Feet,” rapper Charles Hamilton says he’s an artist with “swaggerless swag,” which is the best way to describe his latest mixtape. This time around the Harlem native and champion of “individuality rap” takes on the persona of the blue Sega Genesis character and uses actual sounds from the gaming series in the production. On a disc celebrating hip-hop’s most buzzed about lovable loser, Hamilton effortlessly avoids any mainstream rap stigmas, while finding success on the sample heavy “10 Minutes” and the head banger, “Put Cash Up.” –gavin philip godfrey