The Low Budget crew is no joke. After first gaining national attention with the release of Kev Brown’s reinterpretation of Jay-Z’s swan song, Oddisee, Cy Young and Kenn Starr boosted the collective’s profile on Halftooth Records’ early compilation You Don’t Know The Half. But it was the track “If” — which featured the likes of Asheru and Talib Kweli — that caught the ears of underground and college radio DJs, creating a serious buzz for Kenn Starr that has had tastemakers talking for years now. 

    Welcome to The Starr Report, the pre-LP release mixtape that is supposed to whet the palate in anticipation of the upcoming Starr Status. With an easy-going flow and an honest approach to his rhymes, the Maryland resident is a refreshing newcomer whose reputation is on the rise. “Y’all been warned so back off us/ Why hate us?/ Be actin’ like they strapped and packin’ gats when they not tough/ They tough actin’ like Tinactin/ Give me applause, I spit classic,” he rhymes on “The Answer.” Also check for Starr rhyming over the beats from the Pharcyde’s “Passin’ Me By” and The Roots’ “Everybody Is A Star.”

    Chock full of recent appearances on Brown’s I Do What I Do, the Foreign Exchange Connected album and other recent records, Report is a solid mixtape that proves Kenn Starr is an emerging talent to keep your ears out for.