Review Summary: Silly rappers, Clipse are for kids
From a purely critical standpoint
My Name Is My Name is perfectly acceptable as Pusha T's proper debut LP. However, those wishing the younger half of Clipse would be rapping over coked-out trap beats found themselves shit out of luck at the album's
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy-lite production. It's hard to imagine
MNIMN stacking up in relevance in a year that has seen Three Six Mafia reincarnated as Da Mafia 6ix, the Juice Man dropping his first "real" post-Mafia project, Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka beefing, Gucci Mane releasing a half dozen projects, Gucci Mane going to jail, Boosie getting out of jail (sort of), and Denzel Curry's rallying cry for Zone 3.
For those like me wishing Pusha would have just gone
in like any of those significant events in the development of 2010s southern rap, welcome to Zone 6, dwelling of FatKidsBrotha.
FatKidsBrotha is the closest thing we'll ever get to Clipse short of a Clipse reunion. It's unlikely, though, that Clipse- given Pusha and No Malice's current approaches to the rap game- would ever create another album as Clipsey as
Eastside Paradise II. Much like the famed Virginia siblings, the brothers Light Skin Mac 11 and Dave.E comprise FatKidsBrotha as well as 2/5ths of the Atlanta-based collective Two-9. They like to rap over beats that are half
Lord Willin' and half
Ridin' Dirty. They talk about cocaine a lot. It just all falls into place.
Eastside Paradise II was produced entirely by Snubnose Frankenstein. The result is a cohesive unit that with quickly paced tracks that never wear out their welcome. "Pu$ha" has a haphazard beat and infectious hook that segues effortlessly into the tone-setting interlude of "Clean Getaway (Fat Toeny)"- on which the duo decry their competitors as "servin' soap on the corner" instead of that quality yayo. The repitition of "I ain't had nothin'/I ain't goin' back...tell the DA if they listenin', nigga" on "Drive Motherf
ucker Drive" is another album defining moment, as both Mac 11 and Dav.E poke into the minds of the snitch and the silent accomplice in the midst of a botched felony.
The powder-laden, Cuban-esque production really takes over on the second half of the tape, perhaps no better example of which is the brilliant "Right Now/2 A.M." This song is nearly twice the length of most other tracks on
Eastside Paradise II, and weaves it's way through a strikingly stark beat with razor-sharp rhyme spitting to a sensual, relaxing microcosm of what Clipse traipsed with on their last releases.
FatKidsBrotha toe the line betwixt hard-as-nails street examinations and carefree, simpler raps about ridiculous stuff like ratchet pussy and being as nerdy as Mark Zuckerburg with almost startling ease, as well as with poise usually shown only by older, more experienced MCs.
Eastside Paradise II is at times a little too goofy, but never too serious. One has to remember it's still a gangsta rap album, even if the charisma of these young brothers is so magnetic it's nearly impossible to view it as something that could potentially be that callous. In any case, this tape is a heralds the beginning of a triumphant and urgent new pair of voices in southern rap music. They should be received warmly.
