Pure As A Child’s Heart

Clipse “Intro”

“Intro” is a misleading title for this track, at least in the sense that it implies that it’s not in fact a full, complete song but rather a skippable bit at the start of a record. This is definitely not the case. The track is lifted whole from Fabolous and Junior Reed’s “Gangsta Don’t Play,” a simple, mellow composition that leaves plenty of space for Malice and Pusha T’s careful wordplay. As always, the duo specialize in tight verses that never feel over-written despite their meticulous construction. True to the title, the lyrics of “Intro” are primarily concerned with reintroducing the primary theme of Clipse songs — their proficiency at both rhyming and selling cocaine — while allowing for a brief meditation on their lack of major commercial success without getting all self-pitying about their inability to score a radio hit since their debut single.

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Justice “We Are Your Friends” (Live in San Francisco, 2008)

It was a pretty good decision for Justice to record their live set in a way that included the audience as much as possible, even if the actual recording is weirdly lo-fi for an officially released album. A straight mix of their live set would’ve been almost entirely pointless — it’s mostly just tweaked versions of the songs on their only album — but with the audible audience, you get a sense of the excitement they are generating, and the ways the duo’s music and approach to performance is far closer to the aesthetic of arena rock than a typical DJ group. The chorus of “We Are Your Friends” is sung almost entirely by the audience, which makes perfect sense musically and lyrically — the genius of those words comes from how it taps into and then amplifies the over-inflated sense of togetherness of otherwise lonely people dancing in a club, or a rock show. In this context, it could just as well be “We Are Your Fans,” as the sentiment feels just as much like a connection between the DJs and their audience. This is a great document, but I would’ve preferred it in video form, to get a feeling for the place, the people, and the lighting. Ironically, this is from part of set that also includes a dvd, but that dvd mostly skips live footage in favor of backstage documentary reportage and enough leering shots of cute young hipster girls to fill out a few months worth of Last Night’s Party galleries.

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