The digital clap has supplanted traditional snare sounds in southern beats to the point that you get weird beats like this where the snarey snare has a tertiary role like a hi-hat, while the lighter clappy snare holds it down on the 3, which is a little disorienting and sounds totally awesome. This is the song in the 2nd half of the "Straight Cadillac Pimpin'" video, which isn't as great a combo as the "You Don't Want Drama"/"Don't Make" video, but it's still nice, and of course they don't use any of the parts with the guests verses, which are all frontloaded at the beginning of the song anyway. T.I. raps in doubletime way better than I would've expected him to, and Twista rocks the same flow as he did on the "Neva Eva" remix but it works. Again.

Bump J - "Nuthin' But A G Thang" freestyle

I'm happy with the status quo where mixtape freestyles are always over the beat from whatever song is hot at the moment, because when you hear someone rap over an indelible classic, it gets hard to disassociate the beat from the context you're used to hearing it in. Bumpy kills it, though, considering. His voice kind of reminds me of Malice from the Clipse. And why the hell did he change his name from Bumpy Johnson to Bump J when he got signed? Is it because there was a real life person named Bumpy Johnson, or did Atlantic just not want a rapper to have "Johnson" in their name? I mean, Bump J has to be the worst name modification since "Method & Red".

Akon f/ Styles P. - "Locked Up"

The thing that always weirds me out about this song is on the verses when the background vocals echo the last two syllabes of every line, so it goes like "the car is stolen (stolen), no registration (tration)", and all I can think every time I hear it is TRATION, THAT'S NOT A REAL WORD. Also it's pretty disappointing how half-assed Panero's verses are, considering that he's got personal experience to speak from.

TRATION.