Closed Sessions - "Closed Sessions: ATX"

Rather than gathering years of leftover songs and calling it a mixtape, Chicago indie label Closed Sessions has adopted a more ambitious approach. Teaming with New York’s Decon collective—home of Evidence and Jay Electronica—they rented a mansion in Austin, Texas, and filled it with recording equipment. Over the course of the next four days, twenty-one rappers and five producers threw themselves into the ten tracks of Closed Sessions: ATX.

While underground rap veterans like Rhymefest, Rakaa (of Dilated Peoples) and Naledge (of Kidz in the Hall) lend credibility to the project and deliver their verses capably, it’s the impressive array of underground hip-hop’s up-and-comers that take center stage. The session’s most prolific contributor, GLC, is signed to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. label.  The lead single “Theme Music” combines Detroit’s favorite solo rapper Buff1, Californian youngster Fashawn, and Chicago’s Scheme, of respected Molemen Records. The record’s best track, “Raise the Curtain,” has rising New Yorker Emilio Rojas teaming with 6th Sense, who traded in his usual place behind the boards for a rare rap performance.

Well-organized themes, consistent quality and album structure are rarely the strong points of a mixtape, and if ATX is any indication, giving 26 hip hoppers 96 hours to collaborate at random house can have particularly haphazard results. That said, if you want to hear a whole pile of underground talent put their skills on display, Closed Sessions: ATX is an excellent bet.