James Wade continues to ride the wave that was Popular Stranger. The mixtape was by far his biggest release to date and was hosted by DJ IllWill and DJ Rockstar.

Wade managed to captivate the thousands upon thousands whom downloaded the mixtape with top-notch wordplay, lyricism, and sampling (Rascal Flatts, anyone?).

Since the mixtape’s release back in February, Wade has been busy rocking shows across the country and further defining his skills as an emcee.

Wade was kind enough to give to us an exclusive track to drop, Beautiful Day (Weatherman 2.5). On the track, we get a revamped version of the original Weatherman beat and Future joins Wade on the track as well.

The track is definitely great, and Wade’s flow on it is impressive.

Listen to and download.

We’re proud to be a part of Wade’s come up and look forward to further working with him in the very near future.

Related posts:

1. James Wade – Weatherman
2. An Urbanian Exclusive: James Wade
3. James Wade Spits A Verse for The Urbanian

Mixtape Mondays is the post where we try to confine all our mixtape link postings to. Instead of dumping countless mixtapes on all of you, we wait once a week to post the best one or two. However, sometimes mixtapes come along that we like to post when they drop along with our review. That happened twice last week with XV and James Wade. Unfortunately the rest of the mixtapes that dropped were rather bland, so we’re going to backtrack a bit here. This does give us a good second chance to post something we overlooked, and that’s what we have with Johnny Pologon’s Rebel Without Applause.

It may have dropped back during Valentine’s Day, but I’m thinking a lot of people are sleeping on and overlooking this guy. He’s got a cosign by DJ Green Lantern and this mixtape really proves why.

Rebel Without Applause is 18 tracks of unique and engaging hip hop. It won’t provide you with the normal sounds of the hip-hop genre, so have an open mind when you listen, and just simply enjoy the music. And in case you need more enticing to give the tape a listen, there’s a Kid Cudi feature.

Listen to Riot Song featuring Kid Cudi and download the tape.

You can also hit up Johnny Pologon on Twitter and Myspace.

Related posts:

1. Mixtape Monday: Freeway & TGLR
2. Mixtape Monday: Cisco Adler & Chip Tha Ripper
3. Mixtape Monday: The Crowd Control Tour Edition

This is the big one for Urbanian favorite, James Wade. He’s been continuously on his grind to get his music further out to the public, and this DJ IllWill and DJ Rockstar sponsored mixtape will do just that.

Popular Stranger can be seen as Wade’s hello-to-the-rap-world party, and this one was well-planned. It’s a surprise party for those who find Wade as a stranger, and the expected bash of a lifetime for those who live in the area where Wade is popular. Hence why Popular Stranger is the perfect title for this mixtape. Wade definitely has niches in tiny pockets around the country where he can be deemed popular. He has a lot of support in certain areas that are full of people respecting his grind and whom want to watch him grow as a rapper. Despite his talents, Wade has seemed to slip through the cracks when it comes to major hip-hop blogs, making him a stranger to most.

Having DJ IllWill and DJ Rockstar’s names on the mixtape is his ticket to those major hip-hop blogs. These guys have been behind mixtapes of rappers such as Wiz Khalifa. If a rap blog receives something associated with those two guys, they’ll post it, no questions asked.

With the pressure of having those two host the mixtape, Wade handles it well. From sampling choices, lyricism, flow, and even tracklisting, Wade excels in all aspects. The mixtape starts off with Far Away. The song contains a super dope and mellow sample with a great message for introductory purposes. In the song, Wade simply tells the haters to just go far away. Rap has become a genre with more haters than lovers. It seems most people have forgotten to just enjoy the music. Those new to Wade will be able to instantly tell Wade is just having fun with his music. If you don’t enjoy it, then so be it. Just go far away and let the rest of us enjoy the music. There’s no need for negativity here.

As the mixtape progresses, we come across one of Wade’s most poignant tracks, Weatherman. Those familiar with Wade will know this song well. Wade has been carrying around this song with him for awhile. This time around it’s a bit revamped, and he also drops the features from the previous version. It’s a good move dropping the features. Being one of his better tracks and putting it on this mixtape that is guaranteed to gain more exposure, Wade needs to show everyone he can handle it on his own. And, of course he does. This is a jam that everyone is going to need on their summer playlists.

As the mixtape listening experience continues, so does the enjoyment. Longtime fans of Wade will notice he inserted a good handful of tracks from The Common Ground. Brilliant idea. With the opportunity to get some better mastered tracks from DJ IllWill and DJ Rockstar, nabbing some extremely solid tracks from The Common Ground that went unheard by many is a good move. Wade is able to get a wider audience to already outstanding pieces of work. Some of the tracks carried over are On My Way, Man in My City, Smile, and I Can Make You Famous. Giving these tracks the chance to be properly mastered is a beautiful thing.

The mixtape ends just like it began, perfect. Choosing On My Way as the closer was a good choice. Like the song’s title states, Wade is on his way. Backing that claim are all the tracks you just listened to.

Once this mixtape gets distributed to a wider audience the arrow while shift more toward “Popular” in the “Popular Stranger” junction.

Download Popular Stranger.

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You can contact Brad at brad@theurbanian.com or follow him on Twitter.

Related posts:

1. James Wade “Popular Stranger” Trailer
2. Urbanian Exclusive Track: James Wade “Beautiful Day”
3. James Wade Spits A Verse for The Urbanian