corner wars

For Pancho, read the corner

“HBO’s” the Corner was a mighty fine mini-series, if hopelessly depressing docudramas about crack addiction are your cup of tea. Much like its creators’ next project, the Wire, but without Omar, Bubbles or cops reading porn and cracking jokes.

But who has the best take on the corner, through the medium of song? Is it Common, with the Last Poets, Kanye West ‘on the beats’, and new verses by Scarface and Mos Def? Or is it Clipse and the Re-Up Gang? My vote goes to Common, as it’s good to hear Scarface and Mos Def trading verses out of the blue. Clipse’s bleak re-working reminds me of Biggie subverting Chuck D’s message for ‘10 Crack Commandments’.

Common feat. Scarface, Mos Def, Kanye West & The Last Poets – ‘The Corner (Remix)’ (from Cool Common Collected)

Clipse – ‘The Corner’ (from We Got It 4 Cheap Vol. 2)

More fun:

On the subject of Scarface, The Smoking Section has commenced its Geto Boys week.

Buy Cool Common Collected

Clinton Sparks has posted We Got It 4 Cheap Vol 2 on his site. Get it 4 free.

Buy The Corner