Clipse

This is an excellent compilation of Clipse's three landmark We Got it 4 Cheap mixtapes. The best songs are bracing in their immediacy, mingling street corner menace with sleek, pop culture metaphors and slippery alliteration. On "P*ssy," lead emcee Pusha T "pumps at you Pinocchio's," the fake rappers who "follow suits so well," and, ultimately, find themselves on the business end of "barrels" that "encompass the heat from hell." This crack rap pageantry unveils itself over minimal electro/hip-hop beats courtesy of Pharrell. It's uncompromising and bleak, but it's also hard to turn away from.