Top Dawg Entertainment is closing out TDE Appreciation Week with a bang as fiery Del Amo-based label member Reason puts his own spin on a hip-hop classic with an animated video for “Might Not Make It.” Reason borrows the concept of the 1997 Mase posse cut “24 Hours To Live” to ponder what he might do with his last day on Earth.
The original Harlem World classic, which featured Black Rob, DMX, and The Lox, was half paranoid fantasy, half horrorcore nightmare as Mase and his guests hypothesized that they’d do things like giving financial advice in the hood, leaving money for their families, play the lottery, have a lot of sex, and commit acts of terrorism (seriously, DMX raps about blowing himself up in the middle of Wall Street).
Reason tones it down, but only a little. The sex fantasies remain intact — Reason name-checks Lori Harvey, Rihanna, and the Kardashians — while he limits his terrorism to assassinating Donald Trump, leaking labelmate Kendrick Lamar’s unreleased music, and killing fake rappers who perpetrate a thuggish image with tattoos and gold teeth. The animated video — directed by Egomeli Hormeku and animated by Emonee Larussa –plays out Reason’s lyrics as cartoonish graphics on his phone, scrolling through an Instagram-inspired social media app.
TDE Appreciation Week — the label’s way to pay homage to founder Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith — kicked off on Monday with Ab-Soul’s “Dangerookipawaa Freestyle” for Top Dawg’s birthday. It also included the return of another long-lost member of the crew, Isaiah Rashad, with his song “Why Worry” and the announcement that Top Dawg had paid the rent for over 300 residents of his hometown.
Watch the video for “Might Not Make It” above.