If you don’t know anything else, know that DJ Skee doesn’t just co-sign anybody. When Skee hosts a tape, it’s usually by some of the best in the West: The Game, Bishop Lamont, Snoop Dogg, Crooked I, Ya Boy, Nipsey Hussle, and even some outside of the West, such as Charles Hamilton, Pill and EVEN R. Kelly. Fresno firecracker Fashawn is returning with the third installment of his Grizzly City Mixtape Series and he doesn’t disappoint. I threw on the headphones to check out his first collection of songs since 2009’s Boy Meets World

“Grizzly City Boy” kicks off the album. Bravo & Grafik spit alongside Fashawn for somewhat of an epic opening. From there he goes right into Sanitago’s Revenge, then into the very ugly picture that is “California Streets” featuring The Jacka & Diego Redd:

“You wanna be a gangsta? You got it all wrong, Gangstas don’t live that long…/You call yourself thuggin? Then you better get it right, ‘cause lil homie, this is real life…”

Truest words spoken in a long time.

Other standouts are “The F” featuring currently incarcerated tat-face Lil Wayne (who halfway into a prison bid, still has a bigger presence than his free-roaming counterparts…go figure), the odes to Mary Jane “5 On My Dub,”  and “Pass The Cohiba.”  Best beats on here are “G’s Up,”  “Maybe Tomorrow,” and “Santiago’s Revenge.” He drops dope freestyles via “Midnight Groove (Freestyle) and “I Need to Know.” By the time he gets to the outro, which he jacks Rick Ross’s “Free Mason” and goes for a quick 16, he should have convinced anybody listening that he’s the truth, and well deserving of that spot on the XXL Freshmen cover.

-Reg Young