King Los Brings Together the Power of Baltimore’s Rap Scene with the ‘410 Survival Kit’ Mixtape

Frequent criticisms of the Baltimore rap scene discuss its artists in a “crabs in the barrel” type of mentality in which artists are not supporting each other but competing against each other. It is because of this mentality which led to Baltimore Rapper Lor Scoota being shot and killed almost roughly 2 years ago from today.

 

In one of my very first articles for The Demo Tape, I talked about King Los of Baltimore and his incredible legacy left as being a true-born Baltimorean from Park Heights making his mark on the global Hip-Hop scene but not getting his proper shine because of the limits in the industry. Regardless of his shortcomings in the industry, lack of recognition, and even the lack of love from his own city, King Los decided to take the higher road with this project, the 410 Survival Kit after coming out with three projects so far in under a year’s time since Fall 2017.

King Los is one of the only rappers that is mainstream or relatively mainstream in the game today that is putting out mixtapes. I’m not talking about projects that are mixtape-album-EP ambiguous to get streams and numbers for the modern-day streaming scene, but I’m talking about those DatPiff /SoundCloud full-length projects/mixtapes representative of the late 2000s and early 2010s era that defined the top Hip Hop New Skool juggernauts that we have today. With his level of lyricism and platform, Los took a completely left road with this mixtape by combining some of the greatest hitters of the current Baltimore rap scene and giving them a chance to shine and showcase themselves on Los’ platform along with national mainstream Hip Hop artists like Swizz Beatz. The purpose was not only to highlight Baltimore excellence in their rap scene but for King Los to distinguish himself as a true leader of his city by bringing these artists and creatives together to create a solid community project to begin to heal the city.

The mixtape was not only revolutionary for this fact of trying to spark a change within the emotionally staunch city of Baltimore City, but also because the tracks were incredible in terms of production, mixing, and hooks that highlighted development as well as great songwriting and top notch bars from one of the best rap lyricists currently living. The project included even notable lyrical features from artists in Baltimore that I’ve never heard of before and many others that have not been heard before outside the city. The music speaks for itself, especially with tracks like “Da Hood Cypher.”

The only way we survive, in Baltimore City and and other destitute environments in the United States, is banding together no matter our differences; as corny and Disney-esque as that sounds. The 410 Survival Kit is a fantastic initiative by King Los but it is definitely not one of the best musically solid pieces in his discography. However, there are tracks that still give quality and gems that add to his discography.

Stream below!