Mixtape Week: Day 3. The Artist: Curren$y. The Tape: Covert Coup.

It’s easy to see why people would be so confused about how to classify Covert Coup, the most recent offering from New Orleans rapper Curren$y. He called it an EP, and at just 28 minutes, that seems plausible. Then again, it was free, so it’s understandable why people would call it a mixtape. But it’s so damn good, and is so packed with lyrical ingenuity, it feels more like a stripped-down version of a full-length, high quality studio album. My Hip Hop Advisory Committee (HHAC) Chairman and friend J Clyde was kind enough to clue me into this albumixtapEP, and I just couldn’t resist including it as an official part of Mixtape Week. Covert Coup was produced entirely by Alchemist, and it’s beats fit Curren$y’s characteristically laid back mood perfectly – quite an accomplishment, given the recording’s two-minute-a-song, rapid-fire format. My favorite of the tape’s quick hits (the quickest, at just 2:09) is “Success Is My Cologne,” but the longest track, “The Type,” provides the tape’s most memorable moment: an extended study of a single phrase from Outkast’s classic, “Skew It On The Bar-B.” Check it out below to feel the contemplative irony for yourself, and click here for a free download of this album-worthy mixtape.