Since hanging onto the number 10 spot on Juice Radio‘s Freshest in the Northwest list by the narrowest of margins (before moving up to #9), Moor Gang standout Thaddeus David has been on a tear. Honestly, I still have his last tape None The Less in regular rotation in the whip; yet here he is, back at it with a FREE 8-track mixtape for the people, MoorThanLess. So I guess this means I have to move on, huh?

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Lyrically, Thaddeus continues in his role as the slick rhyming double talker. His witty flows exude braggadocio, leaning heavily on constant transitions and off-balance rhyme schemes to vaguely describe his constant hustling and setup clever double entendres. His tendency to un-apologetically bend words or exaggerate an accent to make a scheme work was equal parts frustrating and refreshing on his prior project, but on MoorTheLess he uses this convention less. Can’t lie, I kinda miss it.

Another thing I miss is the trap-styled production I’m accustomed to from Rob Skeetz and SAT Beats. Thaddeus did a great job finding industry beats that sound like the beats he already raps on, but I’m not sure that they feel any better than the beats he already raps on, ya dig? I was certainly happy to hear his signature adlib – “Word!” – still intact.

His single, SBOE, stands out as the album’s most aggressive song; meanwhile, RFC and Styles are probably the most appealing chill out tracks. Thaddeus really gets into his groove when he slows the flow down and for an artist usually labeled as “trap”, he really embeds a lot of gems into his raps. For example:

“These hoes stay out tryin’ to disperse a team, these ain’t the princesses I used hear bout in them nurseries…” -RFC

“To the ones just fuckin’ round quit cloggin’ up my scene, go ahead and eat these verbal shots – here’s a magazine.” -The World

Overall the project is strong. Definitely a good look for Thaddeus to drop a quick mixtape and give his fans something at least a little different to ride to through the Fall. For those new to Thaddeus’ music, this mixtape should make for a nice intro. For those in the know, it’s a nice transition tape that manages to illustrate that the bars are still improving.