After a long hiatus due to a vocal injury, one of Rochester’s finest is back with a vengance. Not some Hollywood-ass Van Damme vengance, either, I mean something far slower and crueler. This is Old Boy vengance, this is I Saw The Devil vengance. I Got Samples 3 completes a trilogy that dates back to 2018. The symbolism is heavy, but before we address the album itself, first we have to deal with the Mandela Effect nature of it.
You have not gone insane and neither have I. Rigs is Rigz, same raspy rapper from Da Cloth. The spelling switched up when he dropped his monumental 2024 LP, Heal In. The style remains timeless; after all, the kid has been nice since forever. This is an emcee with the vocal register of a small child and the demeanor of a barely reformed serial killer, and that’s a million dollar combination. He could easily coast for another two decades of dropping brags, boasts & death threats over filthy East Coast beats and call that a career.
He refused. I Got Samples 3 is a continuation of Heal In‘s themes: taking responsibility, making amends for sins past, and generally dealing with your shit. He still has some of the most morbidly inventive death threats in the game, too, rest assured. All genius is complicated and Rigs has not actually found Jesus, in any sense. Hell, the album kicks off with one of the funniest drug dealing songs I’ve heard in recent years, a paranoid, glory-free lecture on traphouse logistics and the inevitability of defeat.
That kind of blunt, jaded cynicism shapes all of the street stories here. There is no subtext in sight, and half of these songs begin or end with a long, direct speech hammering everything home. In a weird way, this is coming from the same place as Homeboy Sandman often is: Rigs is a weary soul who truly does want what’s best for you. This isn’t conscious rap bullshit.
The beats drive that home relentlessly. Chup The Producer has been dumb nice for a long damn time now. He gets to really shine here, delivering all seventeen tracks with authority & style. His sense for sonic architecture is still better than his harmonic ear, so while everything bangs, some of his loops can wear a little thin even on the first spin. That’s a passing complaint when the rapping is this good, though. Chup provides a cold, consistent set of dark, head-nodding backdrops. The rest of the magic happens in the booth.
I Got Samples 3 is not some mixtape afterthought. At just under an hour, this is a proper LP, a throwback to the dead serious 90’s classics Da Cloth have always paid respect to. That’s ambition, but what really sets this joint apart is the execution. Rigs is absolutely rapping his ass off, front to back, and that’s not just for the benefit of the fans. He’s putting other emcees on notice here, too. Five Dickies.
