P. Coles is the antithesis of Jay Electronica. While the latter is turning the game on its head by coming from the south but invoking a straight up New York sound, P. Coles may be repping Pittsburgh but this kid could easily fit right in with the southern style of rap with his attitude, drawl, and flow. By the way, that’s a good thing, as the production and sequence of this mixtape are both diverse as well as controlled. With so much to offer it certainly does seem like P. Coles feels like it’s “Nice To Meet You”.

Admittedly, this mixtape doesn’t start out too solid as the first few tracks are somewhat forgettable aside from a solid guest appearance from clear partner-in-crime Blaze Beatz, but once you get to “Big Time” you’re smooth sailing. This track got that standard mainstream feel but instead of being another bullshit track it’s quite enjoyable. Following that is “Gettin’ Paid” which got a beat and hook that makes me wanna throw bills at strippers, basically the shit is dope, and once again Blaze Beatz contributes a solid verse. “Alright” is one of the highlights from its familiar sample to the auto-tuned hook to the deepness of the verses. This track wins on all fronts. When P. Coles is delivering personal and more serious songs, that’s when he really shines. The “ignorant” style tracks come off as far more generic and while they don’t sound forced, they seem to be included for necessity more than anything else, such as the case with joints like “Fever” and “Foreplay”.

The two hottest moments on this tape come from “Once In A While” and “Practice”. With “Once In A While” what you get is just a straight up solid joint. The beat is incredible and P. Coles is really on point with both his content and his flow. “Practice” might be the best representation of pure hip hop we’ve seen in a long time. There aren’t enough back-and-forth tracks anymore and the chemistry that P. Coles and Blaze Beatz have on this banger, along with the hilarity of the shit-talking at the end, makes this one of the most refreshing things I’ve heard in quite a while. Also “Pancakes” is a damn smooth female track that also brought an original hook, not just more of the clichés we usually see in these types of songs.

Where P. Coles falls short is on half-efforts like “Best I Ever Had” where he brings nothing new to the Drake smash-hit, which, unless you’re gonna come better than what Drizzy gave us, don’t tackle the biggest single of last summer. Also “Your Good”, with its over-accentuated flow and wack ass hook, is just a big bowl of wrong.

On “Nice To Meet You”, P. Coles offers up some solid evidence as to why he’s a force to be reckoned with, from his ability to walk the line of both east coast and southern rap, as well as having a true understanding of hip hop. This is a very enjoyable mixtape and only furthers the hype for what should be a quality full-length hopefully coming in the near future (and hopefully featuring some more appearances from Blaze Beatz).

3.5/5

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