PaidProgramming2 By Bones

Who is Bones? Elmo Kennedy O'Connor aka Bones is underground rapper and hailing from Muir Beach, California. This is a sequel to his the 2013 mixtape and his 2nd mixtape released, he's been active since 2010 under the name "Th@ Kid" and later change his to Bones in 2012. I first discovered back in 2014 with the mixtape "Garbage" and i like this project, he can be very monotone and has very basic lyrics but i love the whole eerie, cloud rap type production and reminds of artists like Three Six Mafia, Bones Thug N Harmony and other from the cloud rap scene like Yung Lean and Lil Ugly Mane. His discography is pretty has over 40 mixtapes and a few EP's as well and he has huge i mean cult like following which is pretty awesome, and also is part of the SeshHollowWaterBoyz crew with members like Chris Travis, Eddy Baker and Xavier Wulf. Last year he also got a major and was on the A$AP Rocky last project, even though it was a originally a Bones song titled "Dirt". He got major labels interest but his brother who he is also his manager stated that i have declined many times due to labels wanted to label as "the next big white rapper" like MGK and Mac Miller and wanted to change his style a bit. I respect Bones hustle and work ethic with pace of dropping music and videos every couple of months so on, While they're some projects since i heard "Garbage" and even his early work they are some mixtapes i enjoyed and some that are decent or just forgettable but he has improved his skills dropping longer tracks when his older work his weren't even longer than 2 minutes, his production choices has improved, vocals is better as well and lyrically he's improved a bit. Now this mixtape was a lot to digest with 24 tracks and the last track being 21 minutes and i found out the first "Paid Programming" was like this too, so with that brief history let's dive right into this.

Now being this a super long project and it be way too long of a review to break track by track so i mainly will talk about the highlights of this mixtape and also discussed the pro and cons as well. The intro of this project starts with the very eerie production where it gave me a chill down my spine and sounds like something of old school horror movie like back in the 70's, then we get the 2nd track "Rocks" where i enjoy this vocals and his the hook is very catchy and he quite improved as as singer even though i still think he's singing is very average and basic and monotone. "Biodegradable" has this throwback production and brings me back memories of old school dark southern rap and most of the lyrics here are taking shots at other rappers stealing his style and you are not gonna be successful like him. "Artvandelay" has this very smooth aesthetic wavy production and yeah it's only like a short track but i love the production and the Seinfeld sample was pretty tight. Track seven like many other people i seen talk about and i agreed is probably the best track which is "PeteyPablo" which references a Petey Pablo track, also references Tyrone Biggums from the Chappelle show and taking more shot at the clones riding his wave and trying to his style and the production is the beat on the whole and it reminds something that Chamillionaire would rap and even some of the vocals sounds like Chamillionaire quite a bit overall good shit. "Maggots" has this cool little sample i swear i think heard before and the lyrics pictures Bones dying and having maggots crawling out of his rib cages, sounds dark a bit disgusting and drops a pretty cool Sub Zero line and references that first Mortal Kombat, a movie that is so bad that also happens to be good. "SeeMeAfterClass" is another highlight of mine and from listing to lyrics he's talking to his teacher and basically saying that we both have a lot knowledge but we learned more from experiences in life than from books and there's more to the earth than we known, not saying this track is super deep as fuck and being short as hell too i agree what he said by the line he said. "DeletedScenes" is that he's reflecting on his past and that he's wants to be isolated from the world and that has thoughts what purpose he has in this life and also the afterlife. "YourMusicSucksAndYouLookLikeADickhead" a pretty interesting name for a track, I'm curious how he comes up with some of these tracks name, this track samples a cigarette commercial from the 1950's which makes the track more errie which does work and yeah once again like Bone's track it is short but i do love this track just cause of the production and the hook is catchy as hell. "BlackMold" is a fucking agressive track and the hook is awesome and probably the most hardest Bone's track i heard in quite sometime and the hook is basically another shot at the clones but his vocals work so well and do love the line where says fuck an urn spread my ashes all over the dirt so i can be one with earth, this track definitely bumps in the whip. "YouAreNotNeeded,NoneOfUsAre" sounds like a track i can hear in like a need for speed game where i seen someone say that on rap genius which i do have to agree and my last favorite highlight on this mixtape was "LivingstonCountryLegend" where its a introspective track about where he raps about his come up and that he believes everything he raps and also giving a huge shout out to his brother for helping him out in his career, I love this track and like it give somewhat a backstory about his past and basically describes himself a bit that he's not a another faceless rapper in the underground scene. 

Now me personally the last 4 tracks here I didn't like or care for in my opinion, i think that that were couple of decent beats on the last track which was the 21 minute track i mentioned early, which is basically just beats and has a skit like feel to it with the radio dj in the song. The other tracks tho, they were very slow kinda tracks that you heard in the background while youre stoned off your mind or something you can fall asleep, like i said early his mono tune singing is very sleepy and basic lyrics and also think the production is pretty damn boring and i can see why people don't like his music and some even may enjoy his music but can't stand his singing but each to there own i always say. 

Final Thoughts this a solid mixtape overall i still think his last project "Useless" is better but you can sense he's improving quite a bit in every aspect in his music and songwriting which every artist should progress and continue to work improving their craft. So yeah another solid mixtape and with his fan base probably fucking with this heavy like always i like to see how Bones keeps going forward to his what feels like millions and millions of mixtapes and videos. That's all for today, Robert Garcia Out. 

Favorite Tracks: PeteyPablo, BlackMold, LivingstonCountryLegend, Rocks, Maggots, SeeMeAfterClass, YourMusicSucksAndYouLookLikeADickHead, YouAreNotNeeded,NoneOfUsAre, DeletedScenes, Biogradable, ArtVandelay

Least Favorite Tracks: AwayFromKeyboard, TearsOfAnEagle