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Having a Moment: Kurupt

Posted 05/30/2008 at 5:24 PM  |  2 comment/s

Kurupt: "Yessir" (prod. by Pete Rock)
from the forthcoming G-Boy Status

Snoop Dogg ft. Tha Dogg Pound: "Press Play"
from Ego Trippin'

I've been lost in the grown man swirl of Usher's better-than-I-thought Here I Stand for weeks, trying to peel back his testimonies about deep care and dark understanding (those things real love demands). The Jay-Z duet (it's a duet, not a collabo, FYI) has weirdly done wonders for me the more I feel like I'm growing up too fast. I'm trying to get young again for the weekend, but my rap mind has been wandering. So I'm using Kurupt as a palate cleanser. "Yessir" and "Press Play" are aesthetic rivals, one simmering and subtle, the other chest-thumping--but both are excellent.

"Yessir" pairs Kurupt with Pete Rock, an odd, inspired teaming--it's easily one of my favorite songs of the year. "We sabretooth tigers, y'all cornish hens," Kurupt quietly burns. Young Gotti could have become a lost man in this rapidly shifting rap landscape, but he's focused here and working on G-Boy Status, his eighth full-length, which apparently will be produced by Pete Rock and DJ Premier. Sign me up.

"Press Play" is a similarly boastful moment of West Coast pride, but it's an entirely different kind of song. Loud, horn-packed and furious, the DJ Quik-produced cut is my favorite thing on Snoop's somewhat forgotten Ego Trippin' (it only came out two and a half months ago!) Kurupt mostly barks on the hook and shouts out his homies, but it feels right hearing him clean up Snoop's mess at song's end. The guy's still got presence.

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