Third and final album from Gene & Terrence Thornton as The Clipse, on limited colored vinyl. Til The Casket Drops is somewhat of a victory lap, lacking much of the gritty urgency that pervaded Clipse’s first two albums and We Got It 4 Cheap Volumes 1 & 2 (still the gold standard for street mixtapes). You can hear the seeds of Malice’s highly-publicized exit from the rap game and Pusha T’s illustrious solo career alongside Kanye West being sown. The album is notable for being the first time the duo chose to work with producers other than Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams. The Neptunes still handle the bulk of the production, with Sean C & LV and DJ Khalil each turning in a handful of beats that conjure the tri-state boom bap magic of the We Got It 4 Cheap series (“Never Will It Stop,” “There Was A Murder”). But the album’s best moments come when Chad and Pharrell are behind the boards... if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Lead single “I’m Good” remains one of the duo’s finest productions (even if Push & Mal sound like they’re doing Young Jeezy by numbers over top of it); also check out “Champion” & “Life Change” for further proof. White colored vinyl with KAWS-designed sleeve.

• white colored vinyl
• gatefold sleeve
• limited edition
• original release year: 2009
• music label: Star Trak 2026

reviewed by mayor of hounslow 08/2017

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