I was definitely hearing the formulas, but I'm not so sure about the updates. One of the fun things about their previous three albums was watching their creative incline, but that seems to have plateaud here. Except for The Mall, I would never in a million years put my money on Gang Starr making a song about shopping and it's fucking awesome. I also dig the trilogy of songs about Guru's gun arrest or whatever. The features are fantastic and add a lot to the album, especially MOP, Freddie Foxxx, G-Dep, and of course Deck. Overall it was a pleasant return to hip hop for me. Gang Starr is comforting in the same way studio oaters are: there's a lot of filler, but you always know what you're getting into and there are some brilliant moments.
Choice cuts: Above the Clouds, The Rep Grows Bigga, The Mall
This is a very clever little movie, nicely directed, with a great structure of nested flashbacks. I love that it doesn't ever leave the flashbacks until they're over too, that feels much purer to me in some way than going back and forth. It even made me forget for awhile that it was Code-era and had to have a stupid ending. This is also the first Bob Mitchum movie I've seen in I think more than a year, and it reminded me what a mistake that was. I can see why this too has the following it does, but I don't think it's quite up my alley, mostly because the story doesn't particularly appeal to me.
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