A time comes in a MC’s career (those worth their salt at least) when he realizes that his ultimate success or lack thereof falls squarely on his shoulders. If he’s not getting the right beats, it’s his job to go out and find those heat rocks; if the record label isn’t seeing his vision, the onus lies on him to get the situation straight. It seems Royce has finally experienced that Neo-like revelation and the result was evident in his quality Death is Certain release dropped earlier this year ? definitely a shoe-in for one of the top 5 underground albums of 2004.

     With the M.I.C. (Make It Count) mixtape, the Detroit spitter is capitalizing on his new-found hype with a new collection of songs featuring his spitting crew (Tre Lil, T-Dot, Cutty Mack, Vicious, June). Consisting of about 15 tracks, the majority of the songs on this outing take the form of battle tracks with one or two concept cuts (“Brothers Keeper” and “On the Road”) generously thrown into the mix.

       On “Jump,” Nottz delivers a smooth, laid-back bounce accented with synth strings over which Royce lyrically roasts the ‘nads of wack emcees with darts like: “.Man please/ there’s niggas deceased/ coming with better throwaway rhymes than every one of your keep-ers.” His M.I.C. crew comes off better than average and gives decent performances on posse cuts like “Stand Up” and “Switch.” Thankfully, unlike other crews, (cough, DIP SET), where most of the soldiers sound just like their general, each member of Royce’s clique possesses a distinct, individual flow. The disc is rounded out nicely by straight-up mixtape joints like “52 bars” and “F*ck a Hook,” where Royce again spits highly-evolved battle lines over classic MC Lyte and Run DMC tracks.

     Even though shiny moments abound on this outing, M.I.C. still has the overall feeling of a randomly thrown together project, as opposed to a carefully crafted album. In other words, it’s a ‘mixtape,’ just like the title states. For those needing a Royce fix, there is more than enough on here to sate your craving, but the next full-length album from the D’s next Great Black Hype will surely be a masterpiece.