shit showed up on youtube finally. the video is kind of janky with the shitty graphics but the incredible acting more than makes up for it.

The best song on Duets is now a single and here‘s the video. Twista’s King of the Chi sweater, the return of Bone Thugs to video rotation, and – shit – its a remix with 8ball and MJG!

The Product – “I’m A…” video. Scarface’s new group, off his new imprint, with a solid single, where-we’re-from cut. Lots of solid albums have singles like this; understated, signifying respectable and consistent LPs. Not flashy, not really gonna bother the charts too much, and you know the single always ends up being one of the most-skipped tracks. It’s not where yr at, it is where yr from, and The Product are from:

Houston – Scarface spits first, Houston is so real, “so fuck what you claimin’ and fuck where you come from / you gon’ respect it if not you get yr head flung” – draws his finger across his throat, finishing the fronting out-of-towners. Ends with the chorus, shouting out cities across the midwest. Jackson, Mississippi – Young Malice. “Young” = 25 years old, but with Scarface and Will Hen that is young. There’s a reason his verse is in the middle – he’s kindve a blank slate here, generic-ish real talk defined only by the ambition closing the verse – not his best work on the LP. Bay area – Will Hen. 30 years old. Not spitting over trendy Bay beats because a) he’s with Scarface over dramatic strings, and b) he is thirty years old. He sounds like Ma$e if Ma$e was from North Cali, repping the bay with a smooth unbothered delivery. The LP itself reeks of wisdom, experience, the complexity of moral struggle in a dark environment, veteran sound. Slow rolling beats that have mournful female R&B choruses alternating with hopeful pseudo-Mayfield hooks, B Jordan’s creaky voice carrying tragic, weighty intensity conveying inner turmoil and hidden strength. Hen and Malice hold their own, lyricists who understand low-key style, the importance of impressing a certain honesty, the significance of being able to say that THIS is real shit, and no one will question.