Drug Cliches: Clipse

Posted by: steve | From: May 20, 2004

The first rap group* to come out with an album entirely produced by super producers The Neptunes was a gift and a curse for Clipse. Their sorta debut**, Lord Willin', came out during the peak of The Neptunes radio dominance (summer 2002) and because of this there was a lot of Neptunes backlash as well. So, it was like people had already made up their mind about Clipse and Lord Willin' before hearing it ('Tunes haters hated, 'Tunes heads were in...HATERS AND HEADS). Due to this, Lord Willin is one of the more slept on rap albums in recent years. Yes, it has terriffic production but it is also features Malice and Pusha T, two of the cutest funniest rappers around. I recently heard Ed Lover (yes, from Yo! MTV Raps) on the radio dissing Clipse for having no personality, and it made me so steamed. I was seriously yelling at the radio, calling Ed Lover a "big dork" and killer comebacks like "why don't.....YOU....like....get....a...personality," and the now classic "Ed Lover....more like Ed Hater." Mr. Lover was bringing the hater heat to a bunch of other dudes as well and that didn't bother me. For some reason these two brothers from Virginia have tunneled their way into my heart. It's sorta weird they don't stand way out like so many other rappers. They don't have the most distinctive personalities like Nelly, or Ludacris. They don't have the razor sharpness of Dizzee Rascal or Twista. They don't speak beauty and truth like Nas or Kanye. They almost exclusively rap about selling cocaine, which doesn't seem very interesting. Yet, there is something lovable about these brothers. They call themselves "Patty Cake Man," they say funny words, and they were trying since 1994 (presumably this 8 year period of trying to make it is when they learned all they now know about selling cocaine) to become famous before finally hitting it big. Their voices are somehow identical, even though the brothers are not twins, and that is really cute. They have this new song i just found called "Eghck," which is this sound, and how cute is that! On the imaginatively titled "Intro" on Lord Willin' one of the dudes is very cutely describing himself as a young man watching Miami Vice! CUTEST DUDES EVER. Me + Malice + Pusha T = TRU LOVE.
No, but seriously, Lord Willin', is totally a thick album all the way through. Everyone probably knows their big hit singles "Grindin'," "When The Last Time," and "Ma, I Don't Love Her," but the album is great all the way through. From the calypso awesomeness of "I'm Not You," to the funk horn laden "Young Boy" you get to know these cute dark drug dudes. Their follow up album, Hell Hath No Fury is coming out soon, after some delays due to a label shakeup in The Neptunes camp, and it is once again completely produced by The Neptunes, which is likely to garner some criticism that Clipse are not versatile rappers and they are really painting themselves into a corner, but it's more like a this is the perfect situation for artist/producer thing sorta like a Mirah/Phil Elverum. So, yeah, haters, lay off my awesome friends who are cute and sell drugs, because they are The Greatest Band Of All Time.

* Kelis previously released an album of only Neptunes production, but she's more a R&B lady than a rap group, you know.
** Clipse recorded an album with the Neptunes that was to be released in 98 (I believe) called Exclusive Audio Footage, but that was shelved by their label. A single, "The Funeral" was released in 98.

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