The Daily Swarm

from The Clipse blog

Hiphop from its genesis was a meritocracy—a bunch of dudes lined up in a sweatbox trying to outshine the next man. Their aim wasn’t MTV rotation or club spins; it was renown around their hoods. While the technology has improved and the production has gotten more sophisticated, we still approach our music with that same purity. We rap about things we’ve done and seen, and we aim to tell the story in a unique and intriguing way. Our critical success and uncommonly loyal fanbase stand as evidence. We don’t count any perceived lack of club visibility as a shortcoming. In fact, it’s a source of pride, that we’ve managed to endure over a decade without pandering, without compromising, without deviating from our signature sound.

It’s very hard to swallow a review wherein the author slams the album for a full paragraph, but then backs off, saying ‘I’m mostly just quibbling here.’ Well, if you’re admitting the criticism is unimportant and misaimed, what then is the intent? The Clipse have smashed the mixtape circuit for years with the untouchable We Got it 4 Cheap series. That’s indisputable. And the Clipse are gonna come with it like nobody’s ever heard with our ’09 official studio release, Till the Casket Drops. As a major label release, it’ll have the energy and polish to merit full-bore scrutiny. We invite Tom Breihan and anyone else to focus that critical gaze on it; we’re certain it’ll shine. And by the way, that snide remark about Play Cloths; unless everyone who’s seen, bought, and fawned over the line is lying to us, we seem to have a fashion staple in the works. We’ll take that kind of unilateral reception any day, with (dis)respect to Breihan’s flawed fashion sense. Stick to music, Tom. Well, maybe not our music.

The original Pitchfork review

Again, I’m mostly just quibbling here. This is a quickie mixtape intended to celebrate the launch of Clipse’s new clothing line Play Cloths, which is unfortunately saddled with both one of the worst names and worst logos in rapper-clothing-line history. As a quickie mixtape, it beats the everliving fuck out of virtually all its mixhut competition. A lot of this stuff was probably recorded on a tight schedule, relatively tossed-off. But nothing these guys did used to sound tossed-off. And maybe by the time they release their next album (next year, lord willin’), Clipse should look beyond the corner and make a few tracks that don’t revolve around white powder. Like, for instance, maybe some girl songs. Just a thought.