"I'M GOOD (feat PHARRELL)"
from till the casket drops (columbia, 2009)
Your enjoyment of "I'm Good" depends on a few things: your fondness for Neptunes beats that sound like a cross between the T.I. and Common collaboration "Good Life" and a bunch of the beats that Chad and Pharrell did for Slim Thug a few years ago, your tolerance of sung Pharrell hooks and Clipse songs that hew closer to the aesthetic of Lord Willin' than Hell Hath No Fury. Because I'm a sucker for all three things, I enjoy "I'm Good." I just think it works a lot better as a deep album cut than the first official single (was "Kinda Like a Big Deal" kinda just the street single?) from the forthcoming Till the Casket Drops, which is slated for a tentative September release. As always, Malice and Pusha T sound like gold over a Neptunes beat, even if it's one of their tracks that straddles the line between their glittery synthetic schmaltz and their springy, spacey funk that they rarely do these days. What's more important is that "I'm Good" sounds like a genuine Neptunes track, and not just a Pharrell- or Chad-produced track. From the persistent pop of the drums and the hiss of the claps to the way the keyboards melody compliments the cotton candy synths higher up in the mix, which shine brightly and spiral deep into the track's spacious cushion, this is the sort of beat that supports rather than hogs the limelight, the kind that the Neptunes were so great at effortlessly churning out until about 2003.
As for the actual rapping, it's less We Got It 4 Cheap hunger as much as it is earned haughtiness, more autopilot than autotune. Pusha T cackles as he compares himself to Shamu and references the Ice Cube classic "It Was a Good Day" while Malice drops two memorable lines, one about the sound his engine makes (purr) and the second likening the colour of his diamonds to that of Minute Maid juice through a very Gucci Mane-esque simile. This is the kind of rapping that gets mistaken for complacency; rather, this is simply the warm-up, the pre-game stretch. Yeah, the Thornton brothers got out-rapped on "Kinda Like a Big Deal," but Kanye's been on fire lately, even with his C+ verse on that Keri Hilson song, and Pusha and Malice are even more laidback here. If this is the track most approaching a single on Till the Casket Drops, then maybe there's reason to loosen those collars and feel a little worried. But if this is the introduction, the one before the smash, then we'll allow Clipse their first-at-bat ground single. They all can't be grand slams, right?
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6 comments:
yeah, i like this song. granted i'm not gonna try to argue it's seeing something like "Mr. Me Too" (don't really like Lord Willin' outside of "Grindin'" and "Cot Damn" though, think the Neps were working with a weak drum kit on that one,) but i'm fine with it sounding like Pharrell feat. Clipse if it's this good.
although, even though we don't have the songwriting credits yet, it sounds like a solo Pharrell beat to me. a variation on "I Know." who knows though, i thought UMC sounded like shitty Pharrell beats and Hugo helped him on all those.
you notice they dumbed down their flows to sound like more popular Southern rappers here? kinda pointless, considering as shiny as the beat is, it's a little too weird to blow up.
The thing about their flows is that this beat kinda invites the slower, Rick Ross-y flows that Pusha and Malice employ on the track. More complex flows might not have fit as well, not to mention kind of gone against the sailing-on-a-yacht vibe of the track. I think here their stretched out cadences are appropriate. A whole album of that I wouldn't enjoy, of course.
yeah, i like this song. granted i'm not gonna try to argue it's seeing something like "Mr. Me Too"
I wouldn't try to argue that Mr. Me Too was even a good song, except for the last ten seconds when the beat finally develops into something semi-interesting.
"Mr. Me Too" is much, much better than "I'm Good." Just looking at quotable lines, there's about two on "I'm Good" and fifteen at least (blind guess) on "Mr. Me Too." And that beat is much more interesting than this, even though there's less to it.
tray i know you're not a fan of HHNF's beats, but far as i'm concerned "Mr. Me Too" ranks with The Neptunes's best beats period. and really deceptively simple when you think about it. i feel like i didn't notice those descending pings for the longest time for whatever reason
That's my point, Trey—it's a really simple beat, but does a lot with what it's constructed of.
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