Day 203: "Enemy Turf" feat. Juvenile – Tha Block Is Hot, 1999My coworker Trey directed my attention to this excellent Cash Money mix via the UK-based Radar Radio, which I won't embed here out of respect for the mix staying out of the eyes of hungry copyright lawyers for a little longer but which I will point out is a great way to spend two hours of your time. I will say, however, that several of the tracks included have been discussed on this blog already if you are looking for good companion reading material. It's always funny to me how often the hagiography of Southern rap ends up being written by observers from Europe; the relentlessly forward-looking attitude of US rap media (other than the requisite tributes to Biggie, 'Pac, and Jay Z) means that the creativity that was happening in, say, 1999 New Orleans is not widely understood or dissected. That's a shame because, as a quick survey of this mix will demonstrate, not only was the rapping awesome but the production—courtesy, almost entirely here, of Mannie Fresh—was fascinating."Enemy Turf" is a good example of that: Listen to the synths knocking up against each other after Wayne and Juvie's verses fade out, and check out, too, the guitar line in there. Consider the rapid-fire drums. Mannie was working with a digital symphony on every track! "Enemy Turf" is also, largely because of those drums, a truly impressive rap showcase. It takes considerable speed and dexterity for Wayne to handle this beat, and he performs admirably, lest you ever doubt he had the chops to be a truly great rapper. When this is what you learned to rap on, is it any surprise that you would go on to be an icon? Wayne raps, "Lil Weezy a small fry but guerilla when it's war time," which seems like the perfect metaphor for what he's doing on this track. He might have been 16 when it was recorded, but he was already bringing bars that could go toe-to-toe with rappers twice his age.Follow Kyle Kramer on Twitter.