I Got It 4 Cheap

Better to be Sosa than Tony? Where's the fun in that?

First, sorry that this has been such a shitty week in blogging. Work has sort of run a train on me.

Moving on...

Is it sacrilegious to say that I don't love this new Clipse album? I've listened to it three times--half of it works for me, the rest of it falls somewhere between so-so and boring. Kwis, don't hate me....It's just that whatever Pharrell is doing on the boards isn't really working for me. But that's always been the case--even when at his best, he's yet to assemble a full album without a few beats that didn't strike me as corny or worse. As for Malice and Pusha, they are undeniably cool in their street bravado. And their rhymes are creative. But that can only sustain me for so long. And I don't mind that the world in which they dwell--on wax if not in person, as Jeff points out--is so grim. My favorite show is The Wire; I can handle it. It's just that it becomes a little stale. Give me four really strong Clipse songs and I am pretty good. I'll come back to them again and again--"Hello New World" is, er, straight crushin' it, for instance. Beyond that, I don't know that I need so much more from them, though. Again, I'm sorry. Take away my hip-hop pass if you must.

- Clipse, "We Got It for Cheap"
- Clipse, "Momma, I'm Sorry"

Also, can someone please save Jay from himself? I am not gonna put him on O.J.'s level, but please, just stop him. He really is the Mike Jordan of recordin': he doesn't know when to stop and is now running around in teal looking like a sad, desperate, lesser version of a legend. Don't body yourself, Jay.

- Jay-Z, "Brooklyn" (Jim Jones Diss) (Stream from XXL)

And also, look: Rah Digga and Busta made Dilla's "Last Donut of the Night" into a song. With a funny title, given that we all know: a) Digga; b) Busta; c) this beat; d) that Digga is a weed carrier first, artist second.

- Rah Digga ft. Busta Rhymes and Young Zee, "A Name for Myself"