⁣Clipse were right up my vein so to speak. They were the more draw version of Outcast, a little more current version of Mobb Deep and the perfect beginning stage version of what I saw them becoming. They were just about to become that after going through hell to survive in the rap game, then all of a sudden they were done. In the middle of their prime, with a chance to enter a new prime of easily accessible content through the emergence of YouTube, social media and streaming services. All wasn’t lost though because Pusha T would go on to take advantage of those avenues, and has managed to carve out a pretty solid solo career where he’s still relevant to this day, 30 years after he got his first taste of being a rapper. No Malice also went solo, but most notably went on a journey to fully build his personal relationship with Jesus Christ and even became an author. Great. But whenever I hear the name Clipse, I can’t help but go back to Lord Willin dropping and feeling like a new force was beginning in rap, as at the time there weren’t many duos rapping like Clipse. Many hold their second album Hell Hath No Fury (3rd if you count EAF) as a classic, but for me Lord Willin is a classic album from front to back, that perfectly captured the beginning of the prime of producers The Neptunes as well as a fresh new group that wasn’t constantly chasing radio hits and pop culture. “From ghetto to ghetto to back yard to yard I sell it whipped un whipped and soft or hard” has to be still the hardest opening to a charting single in rap history and a perfect introduction to what the rap story of the clipse would be geared toward. It was from their first major single Grindin, that single handedly put the Clipse and the Neptunes on the map, and is still to me one of the best rap songs of the early 2000s era and best instrumental performance by the Neptunes to date. I wouldn’t say their success was instant, but when it finally happened, it was definitely obvious the duo had the chance to go down in history as the best rap duo in history. Things and they didn’t become that. Here’s why. Could "CLIPSE" Have Been The BEST Duo Ever? Stunted Growth Music