The beats on this CD are phenominal. Although the lyrics fall short of the beats, they are still good, much better than half of the rap CDs that are already out their. Pusha T and Malice brag about their riches and tell stories about their violent, drug-dealing past in Virginia and they do so tastefully and cleverly. This is not one of those CDs were the only good song is the hit song, as is usually the case with most other artists in this fake, commercialized era of hip-hop. This being one of the signature of the Neptunes.Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo did a great job on this CD.The instrumentals of the album are great also. I love Pharrell voice.
These two rappers of the clipse are good lyricist and their flow sound good but not the best.
In this album you can find the two hot singles ``Gridin`` and ``When The Last Time``. Stand out tracks to me are``Young Boy``,``Ma, I don't love her``,``Cot Damn`` and ``Gangsta Lean``.
On top of that the album has great remixes of Gridin including guests like Sean Paul,Lil Wayne,NORE or Baby aka #1 stunna. Other guest around this album are famlay,faith evans, fabolous,and JD.

I advise this album for all fans of rap and fans of the Neptunes music because the sounds on the album are great, so go get it.

I have had this album since September 2002 and it took about 3 years to review it but here it is.

The neptunes provide fire beats for the clipse in their debut album and the clipse provide smart and slick street lyrics throughout the cd.

Lets review the 13 tracks:

1-Intro-The Clipse ride a funky neptunes beat as we get a taste of just how the clipse rap and malice spits a great punchline in "N**gas will think i'm jim carrey the way i off that mask"

2-Young Boy-Another funky neptunes beat fueled with a great horn, the clipse just rap about their upbringing when young.

3-Virginia-A dark neptune beat and Clipse rap how scary Virginia can be.

4-Grindin-You probably know this song, this was the summer anthem for 2002-This song is maybe the greatest neptunes beat with it's pounding kicks and jingles, and the clipse rap about Grindin-which is drug-dealing.

5-Cot Damn-Good Horn used in this beat and piano, More street talk from the clipse. But i like the remix of this song "Hot damn" off the clones 2003 album better than this one.

6-Ma, i dont love her-A fun uplifting neptunes beat and the clipse rap to their girl that they dont know the girls hounding them.

7-Famlay freestyle-Dark Neptunes beat, No clipse on this track Just Star trak Label mate Fam-Lay.

8-When the last time-Great club beat/great club lyrics, this song is just the clipse talking about their club adventures.

9-EGO-very electronic neptunes beat, the clipse talk about Guns and if their Semi-automatic doesnt jam your done.

10-Comedy central feat Fabolous-Dark criminal beat, just street talk and threats from clipse and Fab

11-lets talk about it feat Jermaine dupri-club beat, the clipse and J talk about gettin girls

12-Gangsta Lean-Great Synth filled neptunes beat, the clipse talk how they treat their girls, great hook from pharrell.

13-I'm not you feat jadakiss, roscoe p, styles p-Jamaican beat with claps, just more street talk in this song.

2 grindin bonus tracks
1 with N.O.R.E baby and lil wayne
1 with sean paul, bless, kardinal offishall

Overall Great Cd, great beats
4.5 stars rounded up to 5

The Opinionated One Has Spoken

pharrell beats were absolutely good and banging, from the first track-intro to the last track-im not you. rhymes are not as complicated but clipse has absolutely got the smooth flow. you would expect the subjects would be drugs, loose women, ice, hustling, and riches but nothing more. some tracks have too much of the chorus and hooks, eg gangsta lean, there's too much of pharrell singing but ironically i like that track because it's just smooth with fine neptunes beat. im not gonna go thru all the tracks. virginia and grindin are dark and gritty, grindin is straightly banging where you can find old-school boombap beat from it. the flaws of this album fall to the beats that are lackin of much of the originality for being commercialized, rhymes are a little too simple and the same subjects have been rapped over and over again.. you wouldnt see the hunger from these duo-rappers over this album not like the unreleased Exclusive Audio Footage. for the clipse fans who didnt know, that particular shelved album has demonstrated the duo fast rapid, skillful and hungry rhyming talent. 21 tracks including some short skits have shown that. you can find the lyrics from ohhla.com and the tracks can be downloaded off the net.