The neptunes
Album: The Neptunes Present... Clones
Release Date: August 19, 2003
Label: Arista

Review:
Apparently, there are many prolific producers who privately wish they were equally adept MCs and vocalists—and likewise. Very few pull it off, but don’t tell that to Pharrell Williams, who, with Chad Hugo, make up the production duo the Neptunes. He’s co-produced an inordinately large percentage of new millennium Billboard chart-toppers: Britney, Justin, Janet, Jay-Z, Nelly, ’nuff said. That’s why he can do as he pleases, thank you. But as Clones proves, the Neptunes’ production hegemony will not be challenged anytime soon.

Outside of the stripped-down percussive melodies on Busta Rhymes’s ode to rumps ("Light Your A** on Fire") and the minimalist "Pop Sh*t" featuring hip-hop court jester Dirt McGirt (a.k.a.Ol’ Dirty Bastard), the rest of this collection is all metallic drum sounds and noisy choruses. So who cares if Pharrell can’t really croon a lick on "Frontin’" (featuring Jay-Z)? Sure, Clipse aren’t the illest MCs by any stretch, but they still absolutely annihilate "Hot Damn." Why? Because the Neptunes can arguably make any average Joe Emcee sound good. Cop this, because resistance to the Neptunes’ made-for-the-dance-floor beats is simply futile.
—Dalton Higgins

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