BAD MUTHAFUCKA'S: Clipse presents Re-Up Gang [Album Review]

If you haven't heard the latest efforts from Malice and Pusha T, I encourage you to go buy the CD or at least head over to IMEEM and check it out.

Clipse presents Re-Up Gang (Malice, Pusha T, Ab Liva, Sandman) really left me in a predicament. While I fuck with the Clipse, I don't fuck with the direction they're going in.

Lyrically, Malice and Pusha take you to the streets, and really let you in on that everyday struggle with the soft to hard. Ab Liva and Sandman however should NOT be featured rappers, I'm not sayin that they can't rap, I'm just saying that they shouldn't be given more than a few bars on every couple of songs. They are best when they give you a quick hit, to switch up the raw flow of the brothers (i.e. Cot Dam). Ab Liva can flow, but I don't think he is a good primetime rapper not to mention they need to fix the levels of his voice cuz on some of the tracks you can barely makeout/hear what he's saying. Sandman steps to the plate a little stronger than AB but still leaves much to be desired.

The Clipse sound MUCH better over a Neptunes Track, not to take anything away from the Sleepwalkers (who produced most of the album) but I felt like they tried to reproduce that Neptunes sound that the Clipse are accustomed to rapping over and it just didn't quite work. While the Clipse left the Star Trak label for Columbia (it was just business) their hard lined voices mash well with the spaced out beats that the Neptunes Camp produces. This is especially evident in the production value and quality which was much better while they were with Star Trak. The hooks on a majority of the songs were repetitive and uninspired (i.e. 9mm, Million Dollar Corner) which is something I know would have been different if Pharrell had been involved.

[example of how much a beat can affect a song... Million Dollar Corner with a Neptunesque beat prod. by J.Cole]

At the end of the day...

Lyrically it's one of their best efforts, I had to pause and rewind numerous times to figure out exactly what just came out of the speakers. Malice and Pusha T are in true form, but I'll still give it up to Sandman and Ab Liva. The Re-Up gang is only gonna get better as they learn each other(but I think a four person rap group is a little too much, especially when they make you listen to their lyrics). The hook's for most part are sub par, the beats generic, and alot of the songs and verses you've probably already heard if you been listening to the "We Got It for Cheap" mixtapes or watchin any of their recent spots on YouTube.

Listen To:
Track 8 We Know
Track 9 Money
Track 4 Fast Life (Official 1st Single)

Overall, I give the Clipse presents Re-Up Gang a 3/5

A few pictures from their ATL promo stop last spring...

As for now im still bumpin that Lord Willin shit...

-Tone Rock