I Don’t Understand These Claims

Re-Up Gang “Play Ur Part” – Here’s the weird paradox of Clipse and the Re-Up Gang: I am almost completely bored by their subject matter — at least in the context of hip hop lyrics — but they are so thoroughly consumed by their obsession with the drug trade that their quasi-autistic focus becomes a point of fascination in and of itself. Of course, it’s not just the commitment, it’s the skill. Even at the point when their coke-rap shtick ought to be exhausting, Malice and Pusha T’s verses still sound sharp and seductive. Ab-Liva and Sandman can’t match their partners’ charisma or lyricism, and so their parts tend to drag slightly, and test the limitations of the group’s narrow vision. Similarly, the Neptunes’ track feels somewhat draining, mainly because it has virtually no dynamic shifts over the course of five minutes. It sets a mood, sure, but it forces an uneven selection of MCs to carry the song, and so it’s a little too easy to zone out when the Clipse aren’t on the mic. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)