Clipse f/ Pharrell: "I'm Good"

This is how hungry anticipation can give way to a collective bracing for disappointment and nervous thumb-twitters—and fast. Till the Casket Drop, the Clipse’s long-delayed (per usual) follow-up to 2006’s game-changing Hell Hath No Fury (2006), has been smoldering in the on-deck circle for quite a while now, calling its shots and uttering unspeakable things about the pitcher’s mother; in other words, it just has to be fire, or at least that’s what I thought until about two days ago. See, the Brothers Thornton have kept fans on the edges of their seats with two mostly exhilarating mixtapes, and Casket‘s leaked first single, “Kinda Like a Big Deal,” was arguably a pretty big deal indeed. (Though the “kinda” is still warranted ‘cause Kanye sorta inexplicably managed to out-rhyme and out-funny Clipse on their own joint. I know: weird.)

But now we have this thing—this vacuous, form-fitting club rap with the light, bubbly flow and sour aftertaste of cheap champagne. Like last year’s glass-clinking single “Fast Life,” “I’m Good” revels in its complacency to the point of nausea—only more so since, well, Pharrell sings into a fucking Auto-tune. (Really, it makes me wish they were still feuding.) Even worse, Pusha and Malice have never sounded tamer, their flows uncreatively married to the Neptunes’ insipid snare-and-hi-hat clicks and synth chirps. This is not how Clipse are supposed to rap; this is the FM runoff Jigga has sworn to kill. Mal is lookin’ good; he’s feelin’ good; he’s good. Huh. In their efforts to expand their market share, the Clipse have spread their net too wide, sacrificing the integrity of their product they push in the process. “I’m Good” is the anthem of three grown men servicing themselves and loving it. Yeah, they’re “good”; I just think everyone else is missing out.