Never one to rest on his laurels, Heath McNease will be releasing Straight Outta Console: The Nintendo Thumb Mixtape in late spring/early summer. Heath, along with the help of several guest emcees, will be rapping over many of his favorite Nintendo samples of all time. The entire mixtape will be produced by ForBeatsSake, who originally came to Heath with the idea. “He wanted me and Playdough to do a verse for a mixtape he was working on, but I told him that I’d love to just do the whole thing with him. He has been one of the coolest guys to work with over the course of the 3 years we’ve known each other…so it was on after that.” McNease is truly excited about the uninhibited freedom that comes with making a mixtape.
Heath continues, “For me, with the hip hop albums that I’ve done leading up to this, there never were a lot of songs where I just rapped about whatever came to my head. Even with the really humorous stuff there was almost always a concept that went along with it, and I love that. Maintaining a theme with songs is a great challenge as an emcee, but it also means you’re tied down to that one idea. My favorite facet of hip-hop has always been when emcees just rap about whatever they want and make it sound fresh. I know that sounds shallow… But I love when rappers rap and sound dope. Method Man, Aesop Rock, Guilty Simpson, Busta Rhymes… these guys just sound dope on the mic and that’s what I wanted to do for once. Just say whatever felt right regardless of whether it was off topic or abstract. Simple as that. That’s what this mixtape is going to be for me. I’m not putting any pressure on myself to write about humorous things or serious spiritual things. I’m just going to say whatever feels good… and finally have some guests on it that I’ve wanted to work with. Since my song “Nintendo Thumb” has been far and away the most successful in terms of people who aren’t fans of hip hop… I think it’s a great opportunity to reach out and get more listeners who just love that hip-hop can be fun and not take itself too seriously. I’m genuinely excited to do this! I don’t have to worry about critical reception, album sales, marketing schemes… nothing. just a dope album that I get to release for free for the people that care.”
McNease will be releasing the mixtape for free with donations allowed to help fund the recording of his next solo rap project, Sweet Chin Music… due out in the early fall.
That “Nintendo Thunmb” song off ‘Fan Club’ is still one of my favorite tracks!
I have an unabashed love for Heath McNease and his music, not just because he’s one of my friends but also because Heath puts more thought into the music he does than most…and it’s apparent in what your ears gain with each release. I’m incredibly excited for this mixtape and I’m dashing out to contact Heath now about his “Sweet Chin Music” solo. I’ve got an idea for something visual…
I am thoroughly excited at this news. The project sounds like it’ll be really good.
Awesome news x 2
I listen to this on Radiou and it was soooooooooo great! People need to buy this song and album!
Yeah, it should be a fun listen
Word! I’m glad Heath is doing this project! The Writer Dye mixtape was hot. ForBeatsSake is very talented. Plus this joint’s going to have a bunch of Midi samples from Nintendo games! I can’t wait for this one to get blasted from my IPod!
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