USDA: Cold Summer

Like clothing lines, posse albums are generally seen as opportunistic ancillary revenue streams for rap superstars eager to exploit their fleeting fame. Def Jam further lowers expectations for the major-label debut of Young Jeezy's amusingly named USDA crew by stamping "The Authorized Mixtape" on its cover. Yet Cold Summer exceeds the lax standards of the posse mix-tape with a chilly blast of Jeezy and his cheddar-chasing pals' ad-lib-heavy snowman rap.

Summer is more sonically varied than Jeezy's homogenous solo work, though crewmembers Blood Raw and Slick Pulla sound suspiciously like their big-name partner, double-tracked hype-man shenanigans and all. USDA's superficially catchy ditties aren't designed for posterity, but then the fizzy fun of mix-tapes has long been linked to the medium's built-in obsolescence.