Clipse at the Middle East

The brief blast of a set ran through about half of their sophomore release, adding a few B-sides and three of the best songs from their 2002 Star Trak debut, Lord Willin’. That would include the big single “Grindin,’ ” whose abstract echoes and thunderous percussion boomed through the Middle East. Pusha joked with the audience between songs, fanning the flames of the beef Clipse have going with Lil’ Wayne. (When he asked who has been jacking their style, fans obliged with the Southern MC’s name.)

A Clipse performance can seem cliché’d: there’s the expected gunshot sampling, and the drug-glorifying romps through the gangsta side of hip-hop. That style is best left to the pop kings who sprinkle TRL with their drug-dealing authenticity. Yet for all their hustlin’ and thug posturing, charttoppers can feel mundane and mechanical in their literalism. Like the pulp novels of the mid 20th century, great coke rap transcends genre. Clipse steeped their raps in hyper-paranoia and surreal crime-noir. What came through was not a passion for slinging on the corner but a passion for their craft.