Review: 31 Minutes To Takeoff

It was the spring of 2009 and Eddie came over to my basement Knoxbox apartment with Mike Posner on his mind. A Matter Of Time had just been released. Halo, Cooler than me (the original with Big Sean — not to be mistaken with the single), Who Knows… and well… the rest of the tape was straight up mind-blowing. Everyone the tape was shared with loved it. He simply had an energy and up-and-comer spirit that you just wanted to share.  Then, One Foot Out the Door came out. That was a cool CD, and I still have Speed of Sound as a ringtone. Traveling man was a sick snippet, and I would’ve loved to see that as a full track.

This morning I got on iTunes and saw the LP finally released. I had heard the 3 leaks, and I’ll admit I didn’t have the highest hopes for what my ears were about to be exposed to. It didn’t help that Bow Chicka Wow Wow was the highest ranked song off the listeners pushing the album to #3 on the charts already (do I really have to explain that argument any further? just listen to that trash).

The good: Mike’s still riding off the raw emotion of heartbreak that led to how real his two mixtapes were. Everything from “this was just a matter of (matter of time snippet)” from the intro track, to “Caroline Stevens, this song is for you” in Cheated, to the entirety of Gone in September is the Mike people fell in love with. I really only love Gone In September ’cause he says “Now I’m creepin’ every night (creep creep)”.

The bad: Listen to his two mixtapes, then the LP and tell me that you couldn’t write chronicles upon chronicles of what should fill this section.

Mike’s a talented producer and a great addition to hip-hop talent (collabos are really his forté). He added a poppy vibe to what could otherwise be perceived as bland hip-hop in the public eye. Now he’s just bland pop that’ll appeal to the average teeny bopper.

To save the mood of this post just a bit, here’s what originally caught me and what the man was originally capable of:

Mike Makes Halo

Mike Posner – Who Knows

Mike Posner – Speed of Sound

Make your money, Mike. Go ahead — it’s understandable. Let’s just hope you get back to your roots and your actual talent and where it should be used sometime in the near future.