If you're a West Coast hip hop fan, Pac Div have most likely already hit your radar. The trio, comprised of B-Young, Like & Mibbs combines Native Tounge influence with an LA vibe, drawing praise from the likes of Snoop Dogg, Pharrell & Questlove. Their latest mixtape, Church League Champions, is a free release offered as a precursor to their major label debut, Grown Kid Syndrome, which is expected to be released later this year on Universal Motown.
Pac Div (as they go by these days, having dropped the Pacific Divison moniker) describe the mixtape's basketball theme: "A metaphor for all the 'underdogs' in life-relating to anyone who's on the unnoticed come-up... Pac Div hasn't made it to the NBA yet - we are content with playing in the intermurals for now - but that doesn't take away our drive to become the best ever, because we believe one day, we will jump from the Church League to the NBA Draft..."
In 2006, Pac Div released a thematic mixtape chronicling day jobs, being broke, spitting game with the ladies and, most of all, restoring a true-life presence in Hip Hop. The results landed the unsigned group squarely on the radar of the music industry tastemakers. A chance meeting with The Roots’ Questlove in a Los Angeles record store led to a passed demo, which then led to the drummer personally calling the group to extend support. Snoop Dogg gave them love on one of his songs, and the group has also received approval from the likes of Talib Kweli, 9th Wonder and Ludacris. The major labels came calling, and the group soon found a home with Universal Motown Records.
With a basketball theme, original production and rhymes, there's a searing air of authenticity to the Pac Div sound - and that doesn't even address the formidable flow of these three cats. The group's title track, "Pac Div," circulates around a horn loop and a kick-kick-snare beat with a retro flare, spitting breathless rhymes in rapid-fire succession. There is no intermission, there is no breakdown, just a blistering delivery straight to the end - a mission statement in itself.
Their hit song "Mayor" has been in heavy rotation lately, pulling from the Beastie Boys' classic "Paul Revere" and coming off a lot like one would imagine Kanye sounding if he went through a retro phase - and took himself a little less seriously. That's not a bad thing by any means, especially because the name "Louis Vuitton" isn't once mentioned. But Pac Div's knack for a gravitational rhyme over an old-school beat is a force to be reckoned with. That begs the question: how long before Joe Budden calls these guys out?
The second half of Church League Champions steps up the innovation with flare. The production from end to end is way above standard for a mixtape, particularly on "The Underdogs (Interlude)" and "No No," an instantly insanely catchy track with a call-and-response hook you'll be hard-pressed to shake from your head. Pay attention during the line "y'all sound the same" - catch the Autotune dig? The subtleties are worth a full letter-grade leap alone, but the bottle-tapping breakdown around 1:44 sets the track apart as a standout.
The synth love on "Knuckleheadz" transforms into a bass-heavy drive jam that'll have the low-end addicts bottomed out. The old school electro-funk of "Shut Up" is an eyebrow-cocked drop jam, even more evidence that Church League could've done just fine on its own as a proper album release. But they're playing it right, giving the first hit for free... because they know that if the product's proper, they'll be back for more, money in hand.
Church League Champions is far from your standard lo-fi beef-starter mixtape; there's a finesse here that most rappers never reach on their most polished release, and it leaves us all the more excited for the full-length LP to drop. Look for Grown Kid Syndrome later this summer/early fall. We will be.
Download Church League Champions here.
CraveOnline's Rating: 8 out of 10
