More like Spirit of Resignation. The first two volumes of the We Got It 4 Cheap series were fueled by a fervent desire to drop their lost opus. Just 80,000 soundscans later, Vol. 3 is the mourning of said masterpiece’s commercial death. Maybe the crackers were right to shelf the album in this landscape? Never, that blood’s on Jive’s hands. Re-up’s got their soft eyes on, displaying an impressive self awareness. They lament the relative meaninglessness of critical laudation (even throwing a quick jab at the “coke rap genre”) and the failing industry, ultimately resigning that maybe the rap game isn’t where the real money’s at. [1] And do not despair, purists. Amidst these missives, there are enough general interest cocaine punch lines to match a late period Bob Saget routine. [2]
Maybe it’s naive to think the Clipse will ever touch a brick again, worst case scenario they could just post up in Skateboard’s paisley parking garage. But it does raise a larger issue: for all the destruction that the genre is accused of, hip hop has actually kept a gang of kids off the streets. Who knows if they’ll stick around when the rap money dries up. [3] Not everyone has blogger acclaim to fall back on. Best mixtape of 2008. Thus far.
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