Max Minelli ranks among the most slept-on rappers to ever exhale. So slept on that he couldn’t even make Complex’s list of most slept-on rappers of all-time. He and Masta Ace might have been the most glaring omissions. Maybe it is a rappers with M names thing. Maybe not. Max Payne has been putting it down in Baton Rouge since everyone thought Young Bleed was signed to No Limit (along with Max, he was on C-Loc’s Concentration Camp imprint, though Priority handled national distribution).

Maybe you missed the interview that I did with Max last summer. That’s a good place to start if you want to know more. Or else you could scoop The Killer Elite, his recently released compilation that operates as a functional greatest hits. Max blends country rap with West Coast funk as well as anyone (he was partially raised in Southern California.) And his favorite all-time rapper is Nas. The music is sophisticated and smooth but still raw and emotional — ideal blunt cruise music when you’re worried that someone might be shadowing you.

Download:
ZIP: Max Minelli – The Killer Elite (Left-Click)