The Genie of the Lamp

“Early Retirement” contains one of the brief autobiographical passages in which Mac Dre specializes. It’s just a few short lines, and he manages to be simple and inimitable all at once: “A quick left and an over hand right / A fat four-four, some dojah and a mic / Are my weapons of mass destruction / And detectives know not to ask me nothing / I’m silent, I might speak Tagalog / Drink dirty martinis with the Spanish olive / Garlic and cheese on my French bread / Swallow it please when I get head.” The Genie of the Lamp is the second-to-last Dre released before his murder, and it shows him reveling in his late-career winning streak. The title song is a slightly tweaked version of one of the best tracks from 2002’s Thizzelle Washington. The beats are as creative as his rhymes — witness “Crest Sh*t,” which pairs a gaseous bass to a sample from Nancy Sinatra’s 1966 song “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).” Mac Dre’s brand of quick-witted party music made him the leader of an emerging movement, but “Not My Job” affirmed that he was only interested in one thing: “I can bust you a rap, but anything else, not my job.”