Curren$y, Rick Ross Christmas Mixtapes

This year, Santa’s sack was full of mixtapes.

On Christmas Eve, Rick Ross dropped Ashes to Ashes, his first release since the world-conquering grandiosity of Teflon Don. And on New Year’s Day, the dexterous, criminally undersung Curren$y put out Return to the Winner’s Circle, a nice victory lap after making two of the year’s best hip-hop albums, Pilot Talk and Pilot Talk 2.

Although neither of these new mixtapes quite lives up to their proper-LP predecessors—and, seeing as they’re free to download, this is hardly a surprise—both are nonetheless successful collections, continuing the development of the hip-hop game’s most improved players of 2010.

With Ashes to Ashes, Ross extends the winning strategy he put to work on Teflon Don: pretending to be other people. Rap has always been a theater for playacting and impersonation, but Ross has turned the sculpting of new personas into his best sell. He’s always been locked inside a somewhat limited style, grounded by his guttural, rolling flow and narrow lyrical palette, but by shapeshifting from track to track he’s able to overcome these shackles and, at his best, turn them to his advantage.

“John Doe” is the prime example here. Over a subtle wave of a beat, dressed up with skittering drum machine, Ross raps mainly about being a cipher, comparing himself to Rajon Rondo and Bo Diddley within the song’s first minute. Anonymity becomes a boast, though pseudonymity might be more on-point.

On the other hand, Curren$y knows exactly who he is. Unlike Ross, the New Orleans rapper makes his bones as a standout technician with a deft and versatile flow. Where Ross would kick the door down, Curren$y finds an open window.

Ironically, one of the better tracks on Return to the Winner’s Circle uses a Teflon Don beat. “Daze of Thunder” takes Kanye West’s production on Ross’ “Live Fast, Die Young”—a flashy, ecstatic thing, anchored by soulful vocal samples—and turns it into a typical Curren$y joint, slurred and persistent. Other highlights include the bombastic “Frost” and “Record Deals,” a subtle and lachrymose cut that makes for a perfect mixtape track—low-key and prominently showcasing Curren$y’s weed-fueled wordplay.

The quality of the two mixtapes matches up pretty well, despite their different styles. Nothing on Return to the Winner’s Circle ever quite matches the polish of Ashes to Ashes tracks “9 Piece” and “Retrosuperfuture, ” buoyed by features from T.I. and Wiz Khalifa, respectively.