Hyro Da Hero

With the Myspace generation taking control of the music scene, everyone with a page on the social networking site gets hundreds of adds from bands they've never heard of each year. For most of us, that problem is quickly solved with a simple delete (or an add for those who use the site as a gauge of their importance). Every once in a great while someone adds me with a name interesting enough for me to give them a listen. This was the case for Hyro Da Hero.

A full fledged member of the mixtape genereation, Hyro, from LA by way of Houston, manages to do it better than even Lil Wayne (who gets called out in one of Hyro's most popular tracks, "Punk Rocker"). He wraps over everything from Soulja Boy ("Punk Rocker") to Incubus ("Wish You Were Here") and Marilyn Manson ("Tainted Love"). Though he's a proficient rhymer, he obviously wants to distance himself from what he refers to as "Ringtone Rappers," aka the mainstreamers.

I'll be honest, I heard "Punk Rocker" and thought it was hilarious. But I dismissed it as that, some guy with a gimic trying to get some attention. Then I downloaded more of his stuff. After a couple listens he started to grow on me. In between the self glofication there are tracks with a message. "Glimpse into New America," which contains one of those samples I KNOW I know but can't place, is introspective and confronts America's tentativity towards electing a black president. (P.S. if you can name that song, I'll do what I can to send you a cookie.)

And the best part is, everything he's released so far is free. That's right, two whole mixtapes for a grand total of FREE. Download both the Gangsta Rock Mixtape as well as the Rock & Roll Gangsta Mixtape off of his iLike page here. Just do it. Seriously.