Plastic Little: Plastic Little Presents DJ Lowbudget: Shes Mature Mini-Mega-Remix

2006 might just go down as the year hip-hop was saved too many times. While veritable rap titans like Jay and Nas go toe-to-toe to resuscitate an art form whose very death is still hotly contested, it takes artists like Plastic Little to do the real hard work of the “saving”: continuing to produce the honest, real, and idiosyncratic funky shit that lets you know hip-hop was never dead. On the eve of the release of their second full-length album, She’s Mature, Plastic Little and DJ Lowbudget have put together a tight eight-minute “mini-mega-remix” for promotional release to hype up the fans. It works perfectly, eschewing the harsher electronic beats Plastic Little tend to prefer for a funkier, dustier sound that suits them perfectly while still doing a great job of both previewing the album in spirit and showcasing the group’s best aspects. Plastic Little are silly, crazy, off-kilter dopeness from Philly, tight enough to lay down their skills and wise enough not to take themselves too seriously; here they revel in their personality, switching easily from sentiments like “stab a cracka” (over Dilla’s classic “Fuck the Police”) to, at one point, a light-hearted cop of Stefani’s sing-songy “Hollaback Girl” cadence. Plastic Little never say it, but the music says it for them. “We are hip-hop. Remember? This shit should be fun.”