Mp3 o’ the day: Clipse featuring Kanye West — “Kinda Like a Big Deal”
April 21st, 2009 by Cooper Levey-Baker in Arts, Editor's Desk, Music, News
Clipse Featuring Kanye West: \”Kinda Like a Big Deal\”
Chatting with The Scenestress last week, I felt surprised to hear myself say it: I think Clipse is the greatest musical group in the world right now. Not the best rap group, the best musical group. Period.
It sounded incongruous, even to me: My other two top contenders were The Arcade Fire and Spoon, two indie rock greats, both far removed from Clipse’s grim, amoral cocaine rap. And while those two bands get me with their fiery melodies and their pure commitment to making awesome fucking ’00s rock ‘n’ roll, in the past year and a half, since I first discovered Clipse’s Hell Hath No Fury (yeah, I was a latecomer), I have unceasingly returned to the group’s music for comfort and joy to a degree unmatched by any other artist. The numbers don’t lie: Six of the top 10 most-played tunes on my iPod belong to Clipse.
So, when I saw headlines last night that the duo had finally mp3-released the first track from its long-in-the-making third album, Till the Casket Drops, I got a tad excited. And, thankfully, I had good reason to do so, because song is dope.
Casket (which sadly still lacks a release date) will be the first Clipse LP not to be produced entirely by The Neptunes, and “Kinda Like a Big Deal” (which you can stream above and download by following this link) shows that these guys (Pusha T and Malice) in no way need Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo to rip shit. Of course, a blazing guest verse from Kanye West doesn’t hurt matters either.
Why are Pusha and Mal such artistic heavyweights? It’s the wordplay. Pusha: “It’s a blessing / To blow 100 thou in a recession / With no second-guessing.” Malice: “I’m putting ya’ll to shame, diamonds in the little hand / 50 percent splits, I X out the middle man / A far cry from a stash in the rental van / I’m the reason the ‘hood need a dental plan.” All that over a whole trunk of funk with a psychedelic guitar loop.
Needless to say my expectations for Till the Casket Drops are sky-high.
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