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Album Review
by Ré Kits
11-3-2003
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| Clipse: friends in the production places |
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Clipse: 'Lord Willin''
(Star Trak/BMG)
Clipse’s art of having fun
Signed to the soon-to-be massive Star Trak Entertainment label, Clipse have finally reached home base with the men who have been by their side since day one, the Neptunes. Having run with each other since school-hood, the two teams’ paths split somewhat when Clipse signed to Elektra for a brief while and the Neptunes went on to become, well, international superstars. However, now that the Neptunes have been given the dispensation to set up their own label, it was only natural that the Clipse should be one of the first on board.
It was about time the Neptunes put out something other than pop kids/ageing divas and so the release of ‘Lord Willin’’ album, after months of being available on the import shelves, comes as a relief, light though. Clipse’s might have enjoyed the manic level of MTV rotation with a track ‘Grindin’’ due to their association; it’s all in a day’s work for Pharrell Williams though, just a simple discussion about slipping Clipse into the Justin Timberlake video and thus giving his pals from back home Virginia the kind of exposure major label marketing executives dream about. So, essentially a drum-led old school slice of hard, minimal Hip-hop becomes a huge hit Stateside.
Ovation to Pharrell then for pulling it off because this is, largely, the sort of album that they needed to make but the question is – whose album? There are quite a few moments of Neptunes-by-numbers such as blatant as the Faith Hill-featuring ‘Ma, I Don’t Love Her’; is their sound beginning to wear a bit thin? The weakest tracks are those that expose Pharrell and Chad’s classic funk obsession – meek workouts ‘Young Boy’ and ‘Cot Damn’ that aim to pay homage to the Godfather of Soul; fact, nobody does James Brown…
The best tracks are those that make those minor adjustments to the formula and keep things tight enough and simple enough to bring out the best in Clipse. Such as the insanely good ‘When The Last Time’ but the final impression is, as someone described it, “N*E*R*D clones without Pharrell fronting”?
“That’s cruel and unjust to Clipse,” Pharrell told us recently. “They are a great team and I really like what they do and I certainly wasn’t attempting to make them into a copy of N*E*R*D. If people recognize their album as being produced by The Neptunes, I’m really flattered because I think it is a compliment that people have started to recognize our production sound. That’s really cool and better than any award… All the greatest producers have had their ‘trademark’ sound.”
‘Lord Willin’’ is a set of fell-good party Hip-hop that slightly brushes with the bling-bling lifestyle and gangsta leaning but its focus is the art of having fun. Pusha T and Malice have had a push from their famous friends and now can move on… Although it’s hard to imagine outclassing (m)any if Clipse continue with such friendly, mellow and familiar sound.
7/10
Ré Kits
11-3-2003
Clipse’s album ‘Lord Willin’’ is available now on Star Trak/BMG
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