The quick nine-song mixtape
Sin City the Mixtape is Florida rapper
Ski Mask the Slump God's most substantial collection of new music since his 2018 studio debut,
Stokeley. Despite the fact that most tracks are here and gone before they reach the two-minute mark,
Ski Mask uses the economy of the project to show advanced versatility and exercise wildly swinging flows from track to track. There's relentless, demonic yelling on "Dr. Suess," with a repeated brag that "my flow infectious, can almost hear the pus." It's a perfectly gross line for a song that exists only to shout down any would-be opponents in the most bloodthirsty and disgusting manner possible. The vicious and overblown "The Matrix" has a fast, choppy flow and an energy that matches early
Busta Rhymes, while the production is more in line with better-known tracks from
Ski Mask's departed friend
XXXTentacion. As
Sin City goes on, its broad stylistic shifts become the central theme. "Ya!" is ominous and ghastly, with uneasy sung vocals and an eerie instrumental, and among more conventionally trap bangers are curiosities like the gently crooned acoustic guitar ballad "Lost in Time," and closing track "Mental Magneto," where
Ski Mask raps over little more than a goth-tinged electric bass line. Though it's over in less than 20 minutes,
Sin City the Mixtape finds
Ski Mask the Slump God reaching out in multiple directions as quickly as he can think of them. ~ Fred Thomas