I don't know how this thread is still alive. To give Whitlock any time of day is ridiculous. I've read a lot of his stuff, and it's garbage. Anytime I saw him on ESPN, he sounded stupid. Some of the he writes and says is a little racist though. He just sounds ignorant a lot of the time.
As far as Mixed Plate goes, Tech said there was going to be a happier/more party vibe to this album. There are a couple of good songs on it, but I didn't like a lot of the features, and some of the songs are pretty lame. It does seem that albums have gotten progessively worse. Hopefully his next album will be better.