The third volume in the
Texas-Cali Connection
series of mixtapes find Houston's freestyle king
Lil' Flip
and west coast heavy-hitter
Mr. Capone-E
teaming up once again for a series of tracks indebted to both the gangsta rap of the West and
Flip
's Dirty South styles. For a mixtape, a surprisingly high percentage of the beats sound inspired and both emcees are in particularly hungry form. Though both rappers got their start around the turn of the century, the amount of energy and hunger on tracks like "Why U Mad-Doggin' Punk?" and "We Payed" don't sound like tired routines from players who've been in the business for over ten years. Instead, we hear two seasoned lyricists in their element with bragadocious rhymes and even a moment of sentimentality on "We Miss You," a memorial to the departed
Pimp C
. ~ Fred Thomas