VIDEO: Malice x ‘Pray’ Vignette

When’s the last time you got tested, for anything? With the audio book of Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind & Naked set to drop in October, Malice releases “Pray,” the first of a new series of vignettes. Gotta respect a brother with a message. Waiting on that Long Live the Cane (Re-Up Gang), which he speak on briefly in the Fuse TV vid below. [H/T Mikey Fresh via MissInfo.tv]

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VIDEO: Malice (The Clipse) “Vignettes 1, 2, 3 & 4”

Above, Malice gets his Tony Hawk on in Vignette #4 of his ongoing series. Below, in Vignette #3 aka “Am I My Brother’s Keeper,” he emphatically kicks, “Just remember we Batman, we ain’t nobody’s Robin,” towardes who we can safely assume is Pusha T. Before you conspiracy theorists start crying foul, Big Bro also raps, “All I do is applaud him, all I have for him is love/I’d be the mascot if ever push came to shove.”

Malice’s book, Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind and Naked drops Valentine’s Day. Pre-order it here. Should be a powerful read. Vignettes #1 & #2 after the break. [Checked at Play Cloths Blog]

RELATED:

VIDEO: Malice (The Clipse) – Excerpt #2 & #3

Pusha T Preps Mixtape, First Solo Album [HipHopDX]

Video: The Clipse feat. Pharrell “Life Change”

Finally a video for “Life Change” from the Clipse’s Til The Casket Drops album. About damn time.

RELATED:

VIDEO: Malice (The Clipse) – Excerpt #1 From Memoir

VIDEO: Malice (The Clipse) – Excerpt #2 & #3

Pusha T Says Cryptic ‘So Appalled’ Verse Is ‘Self-Explanatory’ [MTV]

VIDEO: Malice (The Clipse) – Excerpt #2 & #3

Malice’s vlogs are profound. Jay-Z’s Decoded is getting a lot of duly deserved accolades, but Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind, and Naked, whenever it drops, looks to be a worthy read, too. Excerpt #2, detailing a run in with a repo man, depreciating car values and bad credit, above. Excerpt #3, a primer on the “furnace of affliction,” below.

VIDEO: Malice (The Clipse) – Excerpt #1 From Memoir

Malice of the Clipse—the Thornton brother not signed with G.O.O.D. Music, but just as nice—is releasing a memoir called Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind and Naked (see Revelation 3:17). Malice’s vlogs always entertain and in the powerful entry above he reads an excerpt from his tell all, due in stores…soon. [Hat tip to Karen Civil]

The Brothers Thornton

Video: Clipse “Freedom”

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“Napa Valley vintage my flow is fermented.”—Malice

“Freedom,” produced by Sean C & LV, off that Til the Casket Drops album that needs to be in your collection. Malice definitely stepped up his rap lyricist rank this go ’round. [Nod: The Rap Up]

We're not you...

Quality vs. Quantity: 5 Mic Sales?

The sun will still shine...

The Deputy! over at XXL chastised the loud minority (big on praise, short on album support) of Clipse advocates that didn’t cop Til the Casket Drops its first week out. It got me thinking about my longstanding theory that album sales and classic albums are not mutually exclusive. Read: Your album is so great, no one bought it, or Your sales are spectacular, you’re still a horrible rapper.

So how have “classic albums”—a loaded term on its best day—faired in the sales race? For the sake of saving my time, for this list I used all the albums that received the former gold standard for rap long player excellence, a 5 mic rating in The Source Magazine. Also worth noting is that The Source had a “do-over” moment when they gave some albums 5 mic honors they didn’t originally receive (i.e. The Score originally received only 4 mics).

I then looked up each album on the database provided by the RIAA (those cats that certify record sales and hate mixtapes) to see what is its latest sales award (Gold, Platinum, Platinum+, etc) which is then listed next to the title in parentheses.

Keep in mind that if a label really wants to they can cook the books to keep the sales down (as convenient a reason to tell an artist they haven’t recouped as any). Considering how many people had the vinyl, tape, and CD, there is just no way De La Soul’s 3 Feet High & Rising debut hadn’t moved a milli’s worth of albums before finally being certified Platinum in 2000, 11 years after its initial release.

It’s tough to get a handle on the sales of albums like Boogie Down Productions’ Criminal Minded and Main Source’s Breaking Atoms since their original labels are defunct (B-Boy Records and Wild Pitch, respectively), and were operating under code 4,080 when they were up and running.

After looking over the list below, consider that Vanilla Ice’s To the Extreme is 6x Platinum and MC Hammer’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt Em is 10x Platinum (aka Diamond).

Also…

•Eminem being absent from this list, besides guest verses, didn’t stop him from being the best selling artist of the decade.

•Being a Hip-Hop martyr scores you plenty of record sales (Notorious BIG & Pac)

•A gang of you probably never even listened to Grip It! On That Other Level, same goes for Stunts, Blunts, and Hip Hop.

•I still feel a ways LL Cool J’s Mama Said Knock You Out isn’t on here.

•Considering Nas’ sales, it was cheaper to keep her. But he’s still Top 5 Dead or Alive.

•OutKast has more than one classic album and UGK gets no respect.

2001 by Dr. Dre (6x Platinum)

All Eyez On Me by 2Pac (9x Platinum)

AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted by Ice Cube (Platinum)

Aquemini by Outkast (2x Platinum)

The Blueprint by Jay-Z (2x Platinum)

Breaking Atoms by Main Source

By All Means Necessary by Boogie Down Productions (Gold)

The Chronic by Dr. Dre (3x Platinum)

Criminal Minded by Boogie Down Productions

Critical Beatdown by Ultramagnetic MCs

De La Soul Is Dead by De La Soul (Gold)

Death Certificate by Ice Cube (Platinum)

The Diary by Scarface (Platinum)

Doggystyle by Snoop Doggy Dogg (4x Platinum)

Edutainment by Boogie Down Productions (Gold)

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) by Wu-Tang Clan (Platinum)

The Fix by Scarface

The Great Adventures of Slick Rick by Slick Rick (Platinum)

Grip It! On That Other Level by Geto Boys

Illmatic by Nas (Platinum)

The Infamous by Mobb Deep (Gold)

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy (Platinum)

Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em by Eric B. & Rakim (Gold)

Licensed to Ill by The Beastie Boys (8x Platinum)

Life After Death by The Notorious B.I.G. (10x Platinum)

Long Live the Kane by Big Daddy Kane (Gold)

The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest (Platinum)

Me Against the World by 2Pac (2x Platinum)

The Naked Truth by Lil’ Kim

No One Can Do It Better by The D.O.C. (Platinum)

One for All by Brand Nubian

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… by Raekwon (Gold)

Paid in Full by Eric B. & Rakim (Platinum)

People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm by A Tribe Called Quest (Gold)

Radio by LL Cool J (Platinum)

Raising Hell by Run-D.M.C. (3x Platinum)

Ready to Die by The Notorious B.I.G. (4x Platinum)

Reasonable Doubt by Jay-Z (Platinum)

Run-D.M.C. by Run-D.M.C. (Gold)

The Score by The Fugees (6x Platinum)

Stillmatic by Nas (Platinum)

Straight Out the Jungle by The Jungle Brothers

Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. (2x Platinum)

Strictly Business by EPMD (Gold)

The Clipse Go Apartment Hunting in NYC

We're not you...

The Clipse recently went apartment hunting in NYC and New York Magazine went along with them. Choice quote from Malice after checking out Spike Lee’s old Fort Greene digs on sale for 2.7 mil:

“My crib bigger than this,” he says, “and you ain’t getting robbed outside.”

Also found this one amusing; check the bold:

Spencer introduces them to another broker and her spiel — “lava-stone countertops, sub-zero refrigerator, and there’s a farmer’s market in the neighborhood twice a week” — has at least Malice, who cooks, engaged.

Ahem, surely the author was referring to food, not that white stuff. Definitely feel a ways that I didn’t get to write this. [Spotted at Vulture Blog]

Below, vid of Clipse on ABC News with Charles Gibson on the intro. Yes, you read that right.

Video: Clipse “Popular Demand (Popeyes)” + All The Others

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So the Rik Cordero directed video for Clipse’s “Popular Demand (Popeyes)” finally dropped. It’s above and the rest of the videos, so far, from Til the Casket Drops are below. December 8, third times the charm, right?

Clipse “Doorman”

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Clipse f/ Rick Ross “I’m Good Remix”

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Clipse “I’m Good”

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Clipse f/ Kanye West “Kinda Like a Big Deal”

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Video: Clipse “Doorman”

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Looks like the Clipse got a nice video budget. “Doorman” video directed by IllusiveMedia.

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Video: Clipse + Rick Ross “I’m Good (Remix)”

Clipse “Till The Casket Drops” Album Artwork by KAWS [High Snobiety]

Video: Clipse Talk Play Cloths [Nah Right]