Chamillionaire Mixtape Messiah III Review

Chamillionaire’s path to success embodies the strength of his hustle and the meaning of triumph. He went from being shafted for mixtape money by his old label, Swishahouse, to publicly beefing with longtime friend and business partner, Paul Wall, to platinum plus album sales, numerous awards and becoming the first artist to ever achieve triple platinum status ringtone sales for his collaboration with Krayzie Bone on “Ridin’ Dirty”; quite a come up, indeed. With the commercially successful, Sound of Revenge, on the backburner Chamillionaire continues his aggressive and unremitting hustle dropping his third installment of the Mixtape Messiah pt. III.

In probably the umpteenth remake of 50 Cent’s “I Get Money,” Chamillionaire’s “Money Already Made” displays his penchant for snappy one-liners and colorful wordplay. The song is dense with myriad witticisms like: “a suit and tie, I can’t lie I’m in a pair of Nikes/with the rumors, don’t talk cuz I’m not the parrot type” or “nobody sold a ringtone as big as you/they Shock G/our underground is digital/if you a groupie and you ain’t bring a friend with you/then Imma make you turn around like a pivot do” and others of the sort. Most of the first couple of tracks on this mixtape are used to boast about how much paper he has amassed and describing his numerous material possessions—typical rapper bravado—but it’s not until “It’s Just Pain” where Cham ventures beyond the superficial and discusses some of his personal issues, we really see the depth of the artist. Over Jay’s “Renegade,” he discusses the defunct relationship between him and his father, the emotional effects of witnessing altercations between his mother and father and a situation where a white groupie, he never met, claimed he was the father of her child. The song explores the personal strife he experienced and how he used his spirituality to cope with his pain. Following the track, he places a physical phone call to God enumerating his problems. God, subsequently, hangs up on him like a friend you call on too much; a creative addition to the track to an already insightful track. On “Don’t Hurt Em Hammer” Cham shares that he doesn’t contain the candor he once had for rap saying, “I’ll keep it all the way honest with you. I just be spitting a lot of those punchlines because a lot of people tell me that’s what they want to here. Like me, honestly, I grew out of it. I honestly don’t even like rap like I used to.” So, don’t be surprised if his stay in the rap game comes to an early conclusion. Over Kanye’s beat for “the People” Cham rhymes about his distaste for rap because of the fickle nature of critics, the evident dishonesty of other rappers and how rap, something he once extolled has become childish and embarrassing. Contrary to that, “Got a Lot of Options” serves as weak filler where Cham discusses, in detail, seducing women with gaudy and pricey cars. The tape concludes with Cham rhyming over another Kanye beat; this time “Stronger.” He leaves the listener with a memorable quote stating, “I say whatever I want to say like Kanye/and kindly tell you have a nice day/if Hip Hop is dead then I say/that I escaped Death Row like I’m Dre” and, of course, a plug to his album The Ultimate Victory which will drop September 18th.

Chamillionaire moniker is truly apt as on Mixtape Messiah III he shows once again how versatile of an artist he is. He rhymes effortlessly and skillfully varying the inflection of his voice, changing up his tempo mid-flow or going in and out of a croon. He gives it to you on the hood side rhyming about whips, pistols and money stacks but he’s mature enough to see how silly the rap game has become. Not many artists have this balance. I wish he would have spent more time on this mixtape discussing relevant issues but, on a mixtape that doesn’t come as much of surprise as most mixtapes are about giving listeners momentary gratification until the album drops. He also relies too heavily on punchlines on this tape but that goes hand in hand with the prior line. Mixtape Messiah III is a definite buzz builder and temporary pleaser until The Ultimate Victory drops.