The amount of underground mc's releasing mixtapes in this day and age can be overwhelming. It is often times hard to decide which of them are worth taking the time to listen to. Well I will save you some time right now by saying that Vince Staples is definitely an artist to keep an eye on. For those of you who are not already aware, Larry Fisherman is a pseudonym of the very popular rapper, Mac Miller. Recently I have been paying much more attentions to Mac. His recent 2013 release, Watching Movies With The Sound Off, was a surprisingly satisfying listen. It seems that the young Pittsburgh artist is starting to take his work more seriously, as opposed to making music for the sole purpose of producing club hits etc. After following Mac and Vince on twitter, it quickly became apparent that the two artists are very good friends. Seeing that Mac has already established himself in the music business, hopefully Vince will be able to take advantage of this to further his career. Now to the music...frankly, Stolen Youth is somewhat of disappointing mixtape. Vince most definitely delivers lyrically, in fact he reveals quite a bit about himself as a person here. If one pays close attention to what he is saying, it is easy to tell that Vince is either from a very harsh background, or he is gifted in verbally painting that type of picture. Unfortunately Mac Miller's producing skills do not quite stand up to his lyrics. Most of the beats on this thing feel weak. As a fan of Vince's first mixtape, Shyne Coldchain Vol. 1, I was expecting more abstractness and layers on the production side of Stolen Youth. On the contrary, all of Larry Fisherman's beats are somewhat flat. I got a little bit of what felt like a heavier gangster vibe from this tape. Although this makes up the better part of Vince's lyrical content, it is not the reason why I listen to him. I appreciate him for his laid back flow and angsty attitude. I felt a bit alienated by Stolen Youth. This may be due to how much more I enjoyed the two artist's solo work. I strongly reccomend this tape to fans of Vince Staples and Mac Miller. To anyone else, you can pass this up without worry. 6.5/10
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