MIMS - Guilt

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Listeners may be able to pick and choose their favored tracks, but in terms of performance, the growth between Music Is My Savior and Guilt is arguably regressive.

To describe MIMS'
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career as an uphill battle would be an understatement. While his
success with the hit single "This Is Why I'm Hot" enabled him to
jump-start a rap career, his debut album Music Is My Savior
[click to read]
suffered from providing a true-telling performance to justify his hype.
When 2008 came around and MIMS was virtually nowhere to be found, fans
all but posted "MIMS is missing" signs to hunt down the Washington
Heights emcee.

This absence may explain the title of MIMS'
sophomore disc, Guilt, and the title-track that opens up the album.
Over a Soul-Gospel fused beat, he professes, "Cars, cribs, chains,
finer things to entirety/when society sometimes relies on me/now
poor people got they eye on me / money, power, respect creates tyranny/what a tyrant I've been, I agree/conscious burning me like over 99

Like Music Is My Savior, MIMS conducts his first
single "Move (If You Wanna)" as a way to generate more listeners on an
album tailored for a more diverse audience. Produced by Da Internz, the
beat is high on energy, which is the type of record MIMS sounds most
comfortable rapping over. Showing a subtle but softer side, he also
bodes well on a few R&B cuts, including "Love Rollercoaster," a
record based in simple melodic formula, and "Be My Hustla." With the
latter track featuring a vibrant hook from crooner J. Holiday that sets
the tone, MIMS drives home the analogy of his girl's addictive sexual
performance. While not necessarily a record ready for the club, it can
certainly be used to get the mood going in other activities.

gears, MIMS takes his listener on a spiritual journey with the Ky-Mani
-assisted "One Day." Using the record as a form of release, MIMS
provides an honest performance without lyrical ferocity. Sadly, the
same can't be said for the guitar-induced "Chasing Sunshine." Then,
oddly pairing with Tech N9ne
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on the dark "Rock 'N Rollin,'"
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MIMS attempts to formulate a similar rhyme scheme comparable to GZA's
1995 Hip Hop quotable "Labels," but this time with Rock bands. While
the never-ending list of legendary groups is somewhat impressive, the
actual way with which they are referenced leaves the listener

With that said, what Guilt seems to lack in
overall content is perpetuated by MIMS inconsistency. For instance, his
rhymes for "On and On" capture a humble man attempting to explain his
career thus far; "He was conscious when he first spit/but now he's on
that commercial shit/talking bread every verse he gets/talking about
head every verse he spits/But that ain't him man, that ain't MIMS man
Then, on "Makin' Money," the New York emcee incessantly obsesses over
money, and you're unsure of which MIMS to believe. This inconsistency
is also highlighted on "One Last Kiss," a straight Pop record that
falls flat on its face rather than showing versatility.

MIMS has continually stated he doesn't want to be known as a ringtone
rapper, this claim is thoroughly unconvincing with Guilt as he is
unable to carry the album on his own shoulders, or with clarity of his
musical vision. Listeners may be able to pick and choose their favored
r and Guilt is arguably regressive.