It’s been a few years now since Toki Wright dropped his excellent debut album, A Different Mirror. He’s kept busy, though, touring, teaching, recording guest spots with other artists, and dropping timely singles discussing topics like immigration reform in Arizona and the execution of Troy Davis. With his sophomore album not too far in the distance, Wright builds excitement with his FADERS Mixtape.

While the term mixtape is much harder to define these days, FADERS plays much more like a traditional mixtape than most I come across these days. That is to say that it’s a long playing, blended collection of varied material, whether it’s singles in need of a home, verses that didn’t pan out into full songs, or even brand new material. Wright established himself with his first album as an intelligent lyricist with plenty of charisma, able to both rock a crowd and make them think. With FADERS, we get plenty of that, but we get a wider range of musical styles than he had previously done. There’s plenty of straight up hip hop (one listen to “Trackhouse” with Talib Kweli and I Self Devine will confirm that), but we get much more this time around. “Where I’m From,” which Wright produced himself, manages to mix production that recalls Nicolay, with a pleasant beauty and laid back beat that works well with a soul/gospel chorus. “Sun is Shining,” produced by Booka B brings dub/reggae into the mix. “BabyLove” with DJ Corbett, produced by Reggie Reg finds Wright laying down a romantic track, which manages avoid being cheesy. Most hip hop tracks veer towards this when they put an R&B hook on the track and rhyme about getting intimate, but Wright keeps it for the grown and sexy, and it works. “High Definition (HD),” another track that Wright produced by himself, finds himself channeling Shabazz Palaces. I don’t know if that style would work for Wright across an entire album, but it works on this one track as an interesting change of pace. There are two notable singles on FADERS that I’m glad Wright included. The first is “No Idea’s Original 2012,”” with Mally and Longshot. It’s not a groundbreaking track, but just a simple formula working really well. They take a well-recognized sample from Barry White and have three talented emcees spit over the beats like a cipher. The other single is “Film the Police,” the single that B. Dolan put together with Wright, Jasiri X, and Buddy Peace. The song and video came out last December, quickly striking a nerve with the public. If you haven’t read the Scratched Vinyl interview with the involved parties, I strongly suggest you do so. Basically, I feel so strongly about the power of this song, and due to recent events, I’m happy for any additional audience this song might find.

Like many mixtapes, FADERS might benefit from a little trimming so that it could be a tighter listening experience, one that could be digested easily in one sitting. On the flip side, there’s so much to like on the mixtape, I can’t get too worked up about the length. Wright is one of the most talented emcees working today, and he’s proved that once again with FADERS. Now I can’t wait to hear what the new album is going to sound like.