Make A Real Promise

Clipping featuring Cocc Pistol Cree “Work Work”

The complaint I’ve seen around about Clipping is that the quality and character of the group’s production style is greater than the actual rapping on the record, and I think I can agree with that up to a point. I have no problem with the rapping on the album – it’s definitely not bad, and certainly a notch above competent. But yeah, there’s no question that the raps are the traditional element at the center of music that otherwise pushes in willfully strange or outright abrasive directions. I think this makes sense, though – to really make good use of unusual musical ideas, you kinda need a basic structure. Clipping aren’t really asking questions about the possibilities of rap; they’re more interested in the possibilities of how you can frame it. A song like “Work Work” isn’t even that alien or cut off from tradition, it’s just like “how about we put this otherwise very catchy and accessible rap song in a track that sounds like a busted Four Tet song?” And of course I’m going to like that.

Buy it from Amazon.