Review #4: Clipse - Til The Casket Drops

Track Listing
1. Freedom
2. Popular Demand (Popeyes) (feat. Cam'Ron and Pharrell)
3. Kinda Like a Big Deal (feat. Kanye West)*
4. Showing Out (feat. Yo Gotti)
5. I'm Good (feat. Pharrell)*
6. There Was a Murder (feat. Kobe)
7. Door Man*
8. Never Will It Stop (feat. Ab-Liva)
9. All Eyes on Me (feat. Keri Hilson)
10. Counseling (feat. Nicole Hurst)*
11. Champion
12. Footsteps (feat. Kobe)
13. Life Change (feat. Pharrell and Kenna)

How do you follow up an immense album like Hell Hath No Fury? With Clipse's new fan base, I guess they figured that going a bit more commercial would be the best route. Now, hold up, the motherfuckers who made Hell Hath No Fury are going for a more commercial sound? FUCK!

Hold up now, this is Clipse! These guys had their album delayed for a couple years and it still holds up as a classic, don't lose hope yet. Oh wait, Keri Hilson? The Neptunes are only producing 8 of the 13 tracks? Oh come on, this won't hold up, this shit is doomed...

I'll admit, I was a bit frightened to bump this, but, it turned out fucking awesome. Clipse take all these disadvantages and bring their A-game and end up dropping another classic at the end of the decade.

I think the first thing I need to address are the 'pop' vibes that this album might give off at times. Yes, songs like 'All Eyes on Me' and 'Counseling' are overly poppy 'club rap' tracks, but fuck, Clipse do them extremely well. 'Counseling' in particular has an awesome beat and the expected awesome rapping from Clipse. All Eyes on Me isn't nearly as good, but it isn't bad enough to stick out - at worst it's a nice filler track. Overall, this is 'poppy' in the same vein that Graduation-era Kanye was 'poppy'. In fact, I think Clipse have been spinning Graduation a bit - tracks like 'Champion', 'I'm Good' and 'Counseling' all sound like Graduation Kanye-tracks done in Clipse-fashion. I guess some might find this unappealing, but personally, it's a big plus. I figure if Clipse had to inject some pop into their music - this was the best way to do it.

Speaking of Kanye, man, his guest spot on 'Kinda Like a Big Deal' is tight here. He's actually rapping and holds his own compared to the other members of Clipse. Other guest spots, such as Cam'Rons and Ab-Liva deliver, but aren't quite up to Clipse's level - that's alright though, Clipse rock shit way too hard sometimes. Yo Gotti really sucks on 'Showing Out', but it's excusable. He's only on the song for 25 seconds or so anyway.

Surprisingly, despite all the comments I've made about how 'poppy' the album is, they still threw in a some Hell Hath No Fury-like tracks! 'Door Man' in particular sounds like a Hell Hath No Fury 'leftover', except when you warm it up, it tastes really fucking good. It's the longest song on the album, but fuck, it flies by. The other two include the anti-snitch song 'There Was a Murder' and Never Will It Stop - both quality tracks that find Clipse entering back into their 'coke rap' roots after a couple songs of bragging.

The Neptunes and the 'guest producers' (Sean C & LV and DJ Khalil & Chin) really hooked up Clipse here. While we lost the much-admired minimalistic, nightmarish tone of Hell Hath No Fury that Door Man revisits, Clipse actually ended up gaining something else: really awesome, active backdrops. It sounds lively and vicious, sometimes even melancholy (Freedom) - the mood swings on this album than on a pregnant woman, but it all transitions so smoothly - nothing ever sounds jarring.

I have to hand it to Clipse, as I mentioned, even I was doubting them, but, they fucking did it. Kept the album at a perfect length (51 minutes) and managed to spit fire. They're like fucking dragons on here. This isn't Hell Hath No Fury, no sir! It's fucking Til The Casket Drops and it does not disappoint.

Highlights: Kinda Like A Big Deal (feat. Kanye West), I'm Good (feat. Pharrell), Door Man, Counseling (feat. Nicole Hurst)
Fucking retarded shit: Nothing's that bad, but, if you had to skip something, skip All Eyes On Me (feat. Keri Hilson).

4 stars out of 5

Review #3: J. Cole - The Warm Up

Track Listing:
1. Intro (The Warm Up)
2. Welcome
3. Can I Live
4. Grown Simba*
5. Just To Get By
6. Lights Please*
7. Dead Presidents II
8. I Get Up*
9. World Is Empty
10. Dreams (ft. Brandon Hines)*
11. Royal Flush
12. Dollar and a Dream II*
13. Water Break (Interlude)*
14. Heartache
15. Get Away
16. Knock Knock
17. Ladies (ft. Lee Fields and The Expressions)
18. Til’ Infinity
19. The Badness (ft. Omen)
20. Hold It Down*
21. Last Call
22. Losing My Balance

If this fucking mixtape is what J. Cole calls "Warming Up", then I'm honestly scared of what this motherfucker is going to drop next. This mixtape is fucking amazing. I'm not one for long albums, I think Illmatic was perfect length, but the 73 minutes this tape is on just flies by.

Let me just say, this album is damn near perfect. And it's not even an album. Jay Z made the right choice signing this dude. He's a fucking prodigy. It's extremely, extremely refreshing hearing someone of this caliber come out of this age of hip hop. Especially in the mainstream. At first I had low expectations of this album, looked like generic average shit, but I trusted a bro of mine and listened to it. Holy fucking shit were my expectations shattered.

I'll start with the rapping. This album is filled with brilliant lines. Some deep shit, some simple shit, a lot of amazing lines. Every time I listen to it, I catch something knew and think "Damn this guy is good", and that hasn't happened since I started bumping Ready to Die. That's a big accomplishment. Every song on here is quality. No song is one you should skip. He talks about sex, how awesome he is, and making money, and actually pulls it off really fucking good. Not to say all the tracks are about these things, "Dreams" for example is a great track about trying to win over a girl that's not so into him. J is consistent til the end of the album with his lyrics, and his voice is one of the best in hip hop.

"I'm like the human body, I produce my own shit." This guy has some of the best lyricism in the game, and he makes his own beats on top of it. He uses a lot of kanye samples, such as for the beat of "Dreams" (and it works better on Dreams than it did on Drive Slow), and all of "Last Call". And he's a damn good producer. They aren't the best beats I've ever heard, but this is 100% produced by himself, and made before he was signed. Solid, solid beats, much better than 90% of hip hop out right now, he can (and probably will atleast do most of) get away with producing all of his albums from here on out. And his next release is going to be with a real label.

So, overall, this is definitely, without a doubt my album of the year. I thought Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 was going to blow all competition out of the water, and it did for a while, but then I picked this up. I play shit shit constantly. Album of the year, hip hop, and otherwise. Get this, now, or you are fucking retarded.


Highlights: Everything. Top 3: Lights Please, I Get Up, Dreams
Fucking retarded shit: Absolutely nothing.

Notable lines:
"You know I ran the streets like a dog without a leash on"
J. Cole - "Ladies"
Such a simple, yet fucking awesome line. God damn.

"I got no words for these niggas, I'm instrumental on em'"
J. Cole - "Water Break"
This is a fucking skit. That is all.

"If you shoot for the stars, I guess you're aimin' at me"
J. Cole - "Heartache"
Honestly, every line on this album is notable, so this is a waste of time. Just buy this album.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Additional Comments:
Only rapper ever to spit such a hot verse on a god damn skit.
Seeing J Cole and Jay Z in concert March, holy shit I can't wait.