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
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