Mixtape Review: Euro P. Gold – Day After Rehab: The Death of Willie Minus

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We’ve all heard it before. “I remember when I used to listen to *insert artist name here* before it was cool.” I have a feel that I’m going to be able to say that about Euro P. Gold in the near future. Hailing from Chester, Pennsylvania, Euro P. has been on his grind for quite a while now. I first heard about him a few months ago from a mutual friend of ours from Vegas. Since then, I’ve been watching him promote himself on the internet, run his own blog, and just simply working hard to get his music out there. And I’m glad to say that it’s really beginning to pay off for him. Not only has he gotten my attention, but he also recently managed to get the attention of the good people at Dat Piff, where his mixtape is now being hosted. And for good reason, too. Euro P. Gold is a genuinely dope emcee. And this mixtape only makes me want to hear an official LP from him. In the battle between hard work and talent, I’ve found that hard work almost always wins. Euro P. will be good. He has both.

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The mixtape opens up with a recorded voicemail message from one of Euro P.’s associates. He gives him some tough love, but after reminding him why, he poses this question to him:

“There are 3 kinds of people: people that watch shit happen, people that make shit happen, and people that shit happens to. Who are are you gonna be?”

After listening to the mixtape, I think Euro P. has made his decision loud and clear: he’s making it happen. Here are some of my favorites from the mixtape:

“The Rough Draft: Advice” is one of my favorite joints off this mixtape. It took me a couple listens to realize the lyrical concept behind it. He’s really talking about writing a rough draft for a paper. His lyrics throughout are ingenious to say the least.

“Day After Rehab”, the title track, is another gem. Here, he raps over the original sample used in Jay-Z’s “Roc Boys”. The original sampled song is called “Make the Road by Walking” by The Menahan Street Band. I love how he opens this one: “The Unknown Rapper/ from the city where laughter/ resignates/ when you state/ you about to make it happen.” He really works with the music here. He’s got the delivery of a veteran in the game, and he shows it on this joint. This track reminds me of one of my favorite songs by The Roots called “Web”, where Black Thought just goes in and doesn’t let up for the whole song. No hook, just raw talent.

This joint, “Hip-E-Hop” is hard! I love the energy on this track. Euro P. wastes no time going in on this one. He sets the tone for the song right off the bat, proclaiming that he’s “what you’d get if Etta James and Hendrix would’ve had a kid”. I love his clever metaphors that you hear throughout this joint. If you’re unsure where to begin, I’d say listen to this joint first.

“Good Vibes: A Letter to HER”. This track is little more laid-back than the three above, but Euro still comes with it lyrically. I’d say that his lyrical prowess is the common thread throughout this mixtape. It’s something you can always count on, no matter what kind of joint he’s rockin’ over. This is another example of his raw talent.

If I had to sum up this whole mixtape in word, it would be “Raw”. The energy that I feel in Euro P. Gold, is the same energy that I feel when I listen to a young Busta Rhymes on the Tribe’s “Scenario” or even a young, pre-Roc La Familia Jay-Z. After listening to “Hip-E-Hop”, “Rough Draft”, and the title track “Day After Rehab”, I realize that I’m witnessing a young and hungry version of a future superstar. I commend him for being so genuine, and just having so much raw talent. He says it best on “Rough Draft”: “[I’m] so real, you can feel my damn spit through the speakers”. He is a true diamond in the rough.

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