The Neptunes Presents Clones [PA] * - Neptunes (The) (CD 2003)

What More can I say about the Neptunes which hasn't been said already. They are everywhere, whether its making the newest beat on a hip-hop song or lacing an R&B track with their unique(and supposedly stolen) sound, they are always on TV from MTV to BET to making appearances on late night talk shows, Chad and Pharell and doing it big. With that said I am not a really big fan of the Neptunes. I was feelin' a couple of thier earlier track including Oh No and the stuff they did on Nore's album, and the beat that just blew them up outta the water on the hip-hop "Grindin'". To me however they are changing to more pop-ish beats. What made Grindin' so great was that it was a hard sounding and pretty darn basic beat. Oh No was also a rugged one. The Neptunes now have released thier latest album titles Clones, lets check it out.

1. Intro - N/A - Just a beat played with counts of 1,2,3,4.

2. Light Your @$$ On Fire (Busta Rhymes) - $$ - This beat is an intergalactic sounding beat. This is one of the singles off of this album. The beat can get kind of annoying but it is obviously for the clubs. This beat can make you move. I've never been too much of a fan of the "Lets Have Fun" Busta Rhymes with party songs. I'd prefere Busta doin weird sh!t with funny lyrics like "Put Ya Hands where my eyes can see" or something like that. I don't feel Busta's rhymes(no pun intended) here at all. Pharells chorus is pretty perfect for this type of song and it would really make females move in the clubs.

3. Blaze of Glory (Pharell feat. Clipse & Ab Liva) - $$$$ - This beat is pretty hard. Pharell raps first and his lyrics are surprisingly above his normal or pure sh!t. Even with that said they are still below average. Pusha T does up next after Pharell and spits some pretty above average lyrics. The chorus is pretty tight, even though the Blaze of Glory chant can get a little annoying. MF member Ab Liva steps up and spits some monsterous sh!t. Some people may not feel Liva's voice but he kills this sh!t. Malice comes up and just start cussin' like a man who just stepped in on his wife f!ckin another man. However he kind of makes up for it at the end of the verse as he improves tremendously from that garbage he starts with.

4. It Wasn't Us (I-20 & Ludacris) - $$$ - This beat is nice. This beat will make you bounce for sure. This song is a mean party banger. Ludacris spits some pretty good lyrics as I usually don't feel the sh!t he says, but here he's nice. Any DTP fans out there would really like this sound without a doubt, if I think it's ok. I-20 is always trash so you really can put that against the track...too much. I-20 is like a deeper voiced Silkk The Shocker as he can't catch a beat worth his life and his flow is feces. The chorus is mad catchy so hook fans will take a loving to this song also.

5. Frontin' (Pharell feat. Jay-Z) - $$1/2 - Pharell sings like a piece of sh!t. The subject matter and his lyrics are pretty tight, but his voice just doesn't put any power behind this track. The beat is really nice for this type of R&B song as it doesn't take away from the singing and it meshes perfectly, even though Pharell can't sing. Jay-Z embarasses himself with that "We Got another one Pha-Real, I call you Pha-Real 'cause you the truth". He redeems himself with some pretty tight lyrics given his verse merely lasts 20 seconds. The lyrics are enough to make me not skip over this whenever I play the CD, but the song isn't good enough for me to tune to everytime I play it. Not to mention I am sick of hearing it on the radio and seeing the video.

6. Good Girl (Vanessa Marquez) - $$3/4 - This beat is pretty much 702's "I Still Love You" speed up a bit and with some added heavy drums banging in. Vanessa's voice isn't outstanding but it's not bad at all, but it isn't going to make you tune to it. Her lyrics are great however and that helps the song out a bit.

7. If (Nelly) - $$$1/2 - No matter what you thing or how much you hate Nelly, and lord knows I think Nelly's an abomination to rap, this song is tight. Nelly actually uses his above average flow correctly with some pretty tight lyrics. He starts his rap singing sh!t a bit in the middle of every verse but then he finishes it off strongly. He raps to a chick asking her if he does these things will she be his girl. The chorus is pretty nice. This song is mad commercial and I could see it really appealing to the masses. I am trying to figure out why they chose Light Ya @$$ On Fire for a single over this.

8. Hot (Roscoe P. Coldchain feat. Pusha T & Boo-Bonic) - $$$$ - This beat is R-A-W. And I like it. Just like Roscoe says the beat is hot. During the chorus some bells ring in with a low pitch. Roscoe's chorus is annoying as f!ck. Pusha T spits some real fire here. Roscoe P. also spits the fire here. Boo-Bonic spits the garbage that he usually does and Mr. isn't here to pick his @$$ up this time, however Pusha T and Roscoe P. spits tight verses earlier so after them just skip to the next track.
"It go, Hot, Waste, Desert, Taste/
Four Pounds of metal, Triangle Face/
Hes-i-tate, Never, I'll put hole in whoever/
Don't make Push rush in roulette ya/
Gamble with your life/
Change came in cocaine I've measured/
White was the treature, comfort was the steel/
I peddle to the corner like a child on a Big Wheel/"

9. It Blows My Mind (Snoop Dogg) - $$$$1/4 - I'm really too much of a Snoop fan anymore as for the most far he has sold out. However this track seems like a bit a return to his previous self. He is here spittin this gangsta sh!t and talking about what he claims to have left behind. Yup we are talkin' about Snoop's favorite b!tch Mary Jue Anna. The chorus of "The Chronic's Blowin" is pretty tight. The beat is pretty tight here. Another thing about the song we don't get tortured with Hizzle, Shizzle, Whizzle, to the Crizzle, Dizzle, my Nizzle, Bizzle. Damn that sh!t irks me, and luckily we don't get that garbage here.

10. Half Steering (Spymob) - $ - Not much of a pop fan myself but this track is terrible. It's a pop sounging singer, singing over an exaggerated rock beat, which damn near drowns out his voice. Then about halfway through the sound the beat changes to a goofy, commercial sounding beat. Think Old Navy Cargo Shorts. Then the guy starts talking fast, but it isn't quite rappin' he's just talkin fast. That bad thing is that at the end of the song he starts singing really loud and he show a really powerful voice. What the hell save it?!? No one's gonna listen that long through such torture just to get to it. And the beats on this track are pure torture. The fact he opened his vocals at the end are the sole reason this doesn't get a donut.

11. F!cking Spend (High Speed Scene) - $$$ - This rock track is f!cking hilarious. Even though I don't really dabble in the rock scene I am sure any rock fan would love this song. Sh!t I like it. This song is a motto for the wild teenager, no matter how you like or dislike it, and that is why I think it would have so much mass appeal. Another good thing is this song is like a jolt. It is exactly one minute thirty seconds long and it leaves you like...Whoa.

12. Loser (N.E.R.D. feat. Clipse) - $$ - This is a soft rock track. I don't really like it until the chorus hits in and the beat gets enhanced. However I don't l;ike the rock singing here. Both Pusha T and Malice really spit nice. The way they rap over the beat is perfect. The lyrics aren't bad either. This song still doesn't get that good of a score from me however.

13. Rock and Roll (FamLay) - $ - Famlay stinks this sh!t up. They sound like an old school group from the 80's but they still sound like sh!t, just because it sound retro don't mean it's nice, and Famlay proves that by stinking this sh!t up. The beat is tight however.

14. Don of the Dons (Put De Ting Pon Dem) (Jadakiss feat. Supercat) - $$1/2 - This is a reggae track and it should say Supercat feat. jadakiss, as he is all you hear until about two and a half minutes into the track. I don't feel Supercat on this track at all.. Jadakiss spits some really monsterous sh!t I haven't heard from him in a long time(even though he killed Gangstarr's "Right Where You Stand")! He raps gangster lyrics while incorporating some metafores here and there and he saves this track from pure bullsh!t.

15. Hot Damn (Clipse feat. Ab Liva & Roscoe P. Coldchain) - $$$ - This song is a recycled from from the Clipse's album "Lord Willin". Malice spits some garbage on this song as well does Roscoe P. Coldchain. Pusha T and Ab Liva are the ones who shine lyrically on this song. This song has been all over the radios and the music videos been on all the time also so you've probably heard this track.

16. Put em Up (N.O.R.E. feat. Pharell) - $ - This beat is the only thing this song has to its credit. Noreaga's career was saved by Pharell a couple years ago and now he still plagues hip-hop with some garbage. This beat might make this playable in the clubs, but that is all you can do with it. Lyrically its garbage.
I'll Never for get Noreaga's infamous rhyme on "Come Thru"
"They call me Stan Still/
Cause I f!ckin just stand still/"
That had to be the worst bar in the history of hip-hop.

17. Pop Sh!t (Dirt McGrit feat. Pharell) - $$$$ - Vintage ODB for real. This Ole Dirty at his finest. This beat is tight and it's perfect for Dirt. Its filled will chatter in the background and an oddly looped beat. Also during choruses we get police sirens. Funny how ODB's newest songs usually have some type of siren in them, just check "When You Hear That". This song also has some of Dirt's derangely hilarious lyrics. This track has gotten me lookin forward to the next Dirt project. Even though some of the Wu member have been with him over the Roc-A-Fella signing I think they will get there wits and make some hot sh!t with him. RZA is supporting him and that is a great thing, and Method Man's really got some nerve thinking of Dirty as a sell-out.

18. Popular Thug (Nas feat. Kelis) - 0 - Trash @$$ song! What the hell is with couple getting together and putting out terrible product lately? J.Lo and B.Fleck(Now I better not see everyone callin him that) puttin out that sh!t rock movie, Nas & Kelis with this sh!t. At Least Jay and Bee got it right. This song is purely commercial and it is very bad. I will never listen to the track again. With this sell-out act, I hope Nasty doesn't sell-out on an album again like he did with that bullsh!t Nastradomous, even though he redeemed himself. This song also has one of the few beats on this album I don't like.

This is a pretty decent album. If you are a Neptunes junky and can't get enough of there beats then this is for you, this is also for any Clipse fans as they show up a couple times, but you also won't be too disappointed with the rest of the album. The rock tracks aren't that bad. The the commercial hip-hop fans this album is for you. Nelly and Luda excel on this album, and we got a sould sell-out tracks from Nas and Nore. Throw in some Jay-Z and of course the Neptunes and you got an album for you.

However if you are a regular hip-hop head or just are sick of commercial sh!t steer away from this. Just about every track here is purely commercial. Nas will frustrate you with the garbage that is Popular Thug and if you are one of the people desperately hoping Noreaga would regain any shades of his CNN talent, you will be let down again. I really wouldn't recommend this to anyone considering 03's seen many decent albums drop even though this isn't terrible, I'd steer them to something else. This album is pretty average when all is said and...and I'm done with this review.

Great Music to Play While: Starting a Party