This article was reprinted for The Llano Idea.
It seems like Virgina rap duo Gene and Terrance Thornton (otherwise known as Malice and Pusha-T, aka Clipse) revel in releasing their albums in December, purposefully screwing up everyone’s year-end list order after it’s been made. Although their latest effort doesn’t pack the punch as past releases Hell Hath No Fury and Lord Willin’, in a year when rap music was devoid of great albums and people were debating if this was the beginning-of-the-end of hip-hop, their release is probably second only to Raekwon’s epic wordily titled masterpiece Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II — which, to be honest, is kind of sad.
The album starts off strong with a 1-2-3 combo of “Freedom”, “Popular Demand (Popeyes)”, and the hit single “Kind of Like a Big Deal” (featuring none other than the voice of our generation). The opening track, produced by the popular prolific pair Sean C & LV, features a beat more rock than rap with screeching omnipresent electric guitars over a haunting looped vocal sample of “speak / speak of freedom / sing of amber / waves of grain”. Contrary to the straight-up-street grimy flow we’re used to, Pusha-T makes no qualms of informing us exactly where his inspiration for this change of style on the song came from, exclaiming “let me play the role of a Common / over this beat boy / speaking my truth in rhyme / no matter how bland it is”. However, the laid-back Neptunes beat on “Popular Demand” brings out the old school drug-dealing braggadocio we’re used to (“lining up hoes like dominos”), and even the featuring Killa’ Cam returns to word play form (a la “Gone”) with lines like “I keep it fa’ real with the clips”.
No doubt the album highlight comes in the form of the prematurely released hit first single “Kinda Like a Big Deal”. With a roaring bass drum line clacking around like a street performer’s five gallon plastic mini-barrell, this is a jam that’s meant to be bumped to in an old Caddy that houses an embarrassing amount of sub woofers. Not ones to put to waste a great beat, Clipse destroys the track with some of their sickest rhymes (“It’s a blessing / to blow a hundred thou’ in a recession / with no second guessin’”) and even the sometimes lyrically-lacking West joins in on the pummeling by declaring “Spitting fire on the PJ in my PJs / Fire Marshall said I took it to the max like TJ” (although I’m not so sure I agree with his claim of being “the black Marshall meets Jay”).
Unfortunately, the quality starts going downhill from here. “Showing Up” features a much-too-forced, uninspiring Pusha-T verse (“Seeing through your poker face / That n**** bluffin’ / Ladies going gaga for n**** trying to fuck em” — uh, ok) over one of those cluttered “impending doom” type beats that has as much chime on it as “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” has cowbell. Continuing the suckiness, “I’m Good” is one of those obligatory hip-hop down tempo “ballad” tracks which is probably the worst song on the album and the trite “n***** die out here for snitching” in “There Was a Murder” is about as played-out a line that you could feature on a hook. And on, and on…
Now one thing this album is never lacking in are amazing quips. You can’t help but smile a little at lines like “cocaine aside / all of the bloggers behooved / my critics finally have a verse of mine to jerk-off to” (Freedom) and “do what I say like Simon / and you too will diamond blind ‘em / I’m on my Dylan” (Footsteps) — a node to the laughable Makin’ da Band reggae singer (I use this term loosely) Dylan “Dylinjah” John. Unfortunately, the lyrically quality (and album) as a whole does not hold-up to the unattainably high expectations generated by their past glories. It’s a shame too because ‘09 certainly needed Till the Casket Drops to be as great as its predecessors in order for hip-hop to maintain some sort of mainstream relevancy moving forward into the new decade.
