MP3 of the Day: Billy Blue mixtape, 36 Reasons

As we embark on another hot and sweltering summer in the M.I.A., it's bound to get hotter with the release of local hip-hop heavyweight Billy Blue's new mixtape, 36 Reasons. It's a preemptive strike before his major-label debut album, The Story of My Life, due out the end of August on Poe Boy Entertainment/Interscope Records.

The buzz behind Blue has been nonstop since his emergence into the grime-time Miami rap scene a year ago with his now-classic club anthem "Ball like a Dog." The track circulated from one club DJ's hand to the next as it made its way to local radio stations and eventually onto every car stereo from Cutler Ridge to Carol City.

Blue was recently dubbed "one to look out for" in the coming months by MTV News. And with household names like Akon and Timbaland already putting work on his upcoming album, it's no surprise that Blue is up next to grab the spotlight from labelmates Flo Rida and Rick Ross.
Known for his truer-than-life gritty lyrics and a distinct lyrical delivery, with 36 Reasons, Billy Blue is sure to climb the Billboard-Hood charts this summer. This 20-track banger already has records like "Get like Me" and "Fresh from Head 2 Toe" on solid rotation throughout South Florida's rowdiest nightclubs and pirate radio stations.

The mixtape not only shares Blue's day-to-day tribulations of the corner hustler but, in his own words, "It's about being you. Spitting what you lived, telling people, 'I'm just like you. I'm an ordinary nigga. Had a 9-to-5. I sold drugs, went to jail, been on parole, [have] fucked up baby mamas. I been through it like everybody in the world been through it. This world is ours. Let's make it happen.' "

MP3: Billy Blue - 36 Reasons mixtape

-- Esther Park