TOO BIG TO FAIL

The dirty little secret about G-Unit’s 2002 breakthrough mixtape, 50 Cent Is the Future? That Lloyd Banks, then the group’s second-in-command, had the best flow on the whole tape, a sprawling, four-minute eponymous “Workout” that connected the dots between “hearts made of marshmallow,” and “exit wounds the size of hockey pucks.” The dirty little secret about New York newcomer A$AP Rocky’s breakthrough LiveLoveA$AP? That on Banks’s own simultaneously released, Rocky-featuring mixtape, The Cold Corner 2, he proves that, in this city, he’s still the man to beat, as effortlessly menacing as ever. Catch him with Jadakiss and more special guests at the annual Hot 97 Thanksgiving extravaganza.

Thu., Nov. 24, 10 p.m., 2011