On a cold Friday night in a Rancho Cordova recording studio, Sacramento emcee C Plus, puts on head phones and steps up to the microphone. He reads rhymes from his notebook with intensity and a smooth flow. He plays it back with the beat, the song he just made is so intact that you wouldn't know that he's fighting a cold. Then, just like that, the last track is done, and The Purple Heart mix tape is complete.

On Tuesday, Feb. 24, C Plus, aka Chaz Wheeler of the group State Cap, will put out his second mix tape of the year, The Purple Heart.

If you ever doubted that Sacramento had hip hop artists worth listening to, this is the record that will erase them.

The Purple Heart has 13 tracks and is completely produced by Detroit producer, Black Milk. All the beats are fused with samples from Prince's Purple Rain album. A change of pace for Plus, he decided to go heavy on the writing and add more structure to the songs. Mostly his songs have no hook and are shorter.

With so many hip hop artists out already in Sacramento, his voice and lyrics set him apart from the rest. Plus has seen his share of success, being nominated with his group for a Sammie award last year and opening up for acts like Del The Funky Homosapiean, Dj QBert, Luck I am, and Pigeon John. Plus is still looking to grow – he's been featured in many Sacramento publications and regularly does live shows in and out of Sacramento.

Being a hip hop artist in Sacramento is not always easy but has shaped how he works,

"It's definitely made me more aggressive,” Plus said.. “I try to work on music all the time, I have to," he said.

Eager and working hard to get to the next level of success, there is nothing stopping him. Last month's mix tape, The Warm Up, was free and has been downloaded over more than 300 times online. For each day in March, Plus will post a new song on his MySpace.com page.

Plus is proud to be a long time Natomas resident and only hopes that he will be heard. "I am just another young African American kid from north Sacramento trying to make my mark on the planet and get the music out," he said.

The Purple Heart is available for free download at chaz.12ftdwende.com