Thirds Eye View

On his third solo outing, following Nerd's Eye View and Nerd's Eye 2, Bay Area underground favorite Erk Tha Jerk delivers a strong mixtape with surprisingly few guest features (D. Bledsoe, London, Y.B., and Dions Lane), supported by consistently dope, space-age production from Traxamillion, The Invasion, Champagne Clique, Matcy P, and himself, among others. Freaky females seem to be his subject matter of choice, as evidenced on self-explanatory joints like "F**k Hard," "Wedding Ring," and "Shake It Like a Dog." He also delves into more standard topics, like streetwise retribution and steady smoking. He's already huge in San Francisco and Oakland; it seems just a matter of time before Erk's infectious sound breaks out of Cali and goes worldwide. The Auto-Tuned "Ridin' High" has "radio single" written all over it, while the undeniably funky, saxophone-laced jam "Protocol" will surely be appreciated by older heads who came up in the sample-saturated golden era.