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Cold Days and Dark Nights, what an excellent name for a mixtape dropped by Chicago's own Jelani Lateef. The 14 track no holds barred project is full of emotion and starts with a snippet from the movie Fortune. "In this lifetime you don't have to prove nothin to nobody except yourself and if you haven't done that by now, it ain't gonna never happen!" Then "Fear" starts. On the track Lateef tells the listener whatever you do, do it and execute your mission with no fear at all basically telling the listener that fear is the number one dream killer. On one of my favorites "Look what you've done" Jelani reflects back on a past love (possibly the one who got away) and the wrong he's done to her. A very honest and straightforward song he holds nothing back while spitting raw emotion at the same time. The production and lyrical content of "Action" draws you in immediately. Keyboard synths accompanied by the empowering message makes for a dope track that I found myself replaying over and over I just wish it was a little longer. Overall, Cold Days and Dark Nights embodies hip-hop. Not the club driven music that's ever so often displayed in mainstream media. On each track Jelani Lateef delivers.

Connect with Jelani Lateef
Facebook.com/JFuryfanpage | Twitter.com/jaylateef