What better way to snatch the attention of hip hop advocate worldwide than to mesh sports with music- hip-hop and college basketball to be exact. California and Universal Motown’s newest offspring to the hip-hop plateau, Pac Div (Be Young, Mibbs & Like) pieced together an offering that not only satisfies any lyrical connoisseur from here to Japan, but taps into the modern day mind set of your local knucklehead. It also doesn’t hurt to have legendary sports anchor, Dick Vitale jumpstart your intro. "Church League Champions" starts now.
Kicking things into high gear, “We The Champs (Duke Vs. Carolina)” issues a bold statement to any lyrical contender listening- they’re the champs. An instrumental that could pass for a jam session during a Howard University marching practice set, the trio wastes no time knocking down bar after bar for 3 minutes straight. BeYoung raps, “Peep game, I’m the clothes copper, flow dropper/Kicks like a dojo, peep the low Pradas”.
Upping the lyrical ante on “Pac Div”, the trio furiously raps as if they woke up with an L.A. chip on their shoulders. Making references to their lyrical power back in 06, its evident these three were the focal point of every neighborhood cipher growing up. Knocking the energy down several notches, “For You” is a group-reflective gem dedicated to all the individuals that attempted to sidetrack their hustle in the past.
Pegged as the sets best offering, “Knuckleheadz” is a 5 minute lyrical workout session that takes a musical left turn 2 minutes in. Exuding “Knucklehead” characteristics, the chours boasts, “Ima do what I wanna do, act how I wanna act/ say what I wanna say, yeah I’m a knucklehead”. Hip hop recklessness at its finest. Lyrical warfare and knucklehead activities aside, "Church League Champions" visits the trials and tribulations of being black in America on “Young Black Male”. The cut focuses on the trio’s journey of staying out the penitentiary, paying rent, and providing a positive image for the knuckleheads under them.
Like rhymes, “Used to get on mama’s last nerves, I ain’t tryin to rap burgers ma, I’m tryin to rap words/I aint tryin to get murdered, I aint tryin to stack birds.” The set concludes with, “Back” a track that starts out as an ode to Mibbs’ old high-school fling, but ends up with Like issuing a lyrical memoir to which only true followers of Pac Div could relate.
"Church League Champions" is the perfect helping to the starving hip hop fan (and believe me, there’s a lot of them out there). Cuts like “No No”, “Shut-Up” and “Whiplash” are pretty much no-brainer when it comes to the lyrical wordplay. Mirroring the camaraderie of Naughty By Nature and the lyrical prowess of the A Tribe Called, Pac Div’s hip-hop feature is everything but dreary. And if you still don’t believe me, “Church League Champions” is only a mixtape. Imagine what they’re official album will sound like. Wave to the champs, the game belongs to them.