The Re-Up Gang, i.e. Clipse (Pusha T and Malice) plus Philly rappers Ab-Liva and Sandman, has just released the sequel to 2005's seminal We Got It 4 Cheap Vol. 2 mixtape, the aptly (and lugubriously) titled We Got It For Cheap Vol. 3: The Spirit of Competition (We Just Think We Better). I haven't had a lot of time to absorb this yet, so we may come back to it, but time is of the essence as Re-Up is giving this shit away F-R-E-E over at their label website. Do yourself a favor and opt for the Drama-less version, unless you like DJs shouting out their name over your raps, in which case be my guest.
First impression: Clipse maintain the whole "drug dealers who rap on the side" ethos, rather than the more popular "I may or may not have dealt drugs at one point, but now I own three homes and have my own energy drink" ethos. Clearly the commercial failure of 2006's Hell Hath No Fury has had a profound effect on Pusha and Malice: several times on the tape they allude to the fact that there may be more money dealing coke that in hip hop. WGI4CV3 is definitely a hardcore nose to the grindstone affair; "If the album flops, we the Wire season 2 bitches, back to the docks".
Speaking of which...
SPOILER ALERT: If you watch The Wire and aren't up to episode 5 of the current season yet, turn back!
Season 5: B'more Sun plotline = thumbs waaay down; McNulty going haywire = thumbs kinda down; Marlo moving aside Prop Joe and taking over the connect with the Greeks = big thumbs up; Omar pulling some serious Batman shit in his hunt for Marlo = I can't even see my thumb because it is so high up.
Carl Wilson over at Zoilus turned me on to this feature over at the (shudder) Freakonomics blog: "What do Real Thugs Think of The Wire?" It's a diary maintained by Sudhir Venkatesh, a Columbia University sociologist who made his name documenting the Chicago drug trade, recording the reactions of "New York-area gang personnel" as they watch the show. Choice cut, from Part 4:
Flavor, the youngest in the room at 29, felt a strong tie to Marlo. “I can’t tell you the number of these old fools, like Prop Joe, that stand in the way when we try to make things happen. They always talk about the old days. F-ck the old days. I got kids, I got bills, I don’t need no old crumpled up, fat fool telling me to give my money up to n***ers who don’t do nothing for themselves.”R-E-U-P-G-A-N-G, indeed.
