• Record Label: Sony
  • Release Date: Dec 8, 2009
Metascore
64

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 18
  2. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. There’s plenty of dazzling wordplay related to coke dealing and showing off, but the album carries a more redemptive tone and a higher level of self-awareness.
  2. Granted, there’s a dropped line or two (see the Katy Perry reference in the frankly appallingly saccharine ‘I’m Good’ and the misjudged Jamaican patois of ‘There Was A Murder’) but this remains an album with few weak points, and plenty of strong ones.
  3. Malice and Pusha T are at the top of their game on most of the rest; even when they swagger on “Popular Demand (Popeyes),” the wordplay is so thick and weirdly inventive that it’s difficult to deny them.
  4. Over the course of just under an hour, the Clipse still do a good enough job of selling us their particular brand of music, and whilst this may not be a sure-fire classic, it is still an interesting enough listen to make it one of the more worthwhile purchases of the year.
  5. Brothers Terrence “Pusha T” and Gene “Malice” Thornton--a.k.a. Clipse--spend a surprising amount of their third official album (not counting mixtapes and collaborative showcases) sounding both upbeat and reflective.
  6. What they have done on its proper follow-up is neither lazy nor hollow, merely undefined, making no clear promises on future plans.
  7. Clipse fans are no doubt still listening, but they'll need a more cohesive vision next time around.
  8. Given the track record Clipse have maintained through this decade with their other two albums and three mixtapes (I’m not counting the official Re-Up Gang album, and neither should you), this is a fine album, but it's still a letdown, plain and simple.
  9. This is an album animated by letdown, though less effectively than in the past. More than ever Malice is the moral anchor.
  10. Never quite hitting the peak of "Hell..." they walk a fine line here between fame-hungry thugs--something that ill-fits them--and existential thinkers with the “intellect of Einstein” and a fondness for sonic dissonance.
  11. It's understandable if Clipse no longer feel like they have to actually prove shit to anyone, but perhaps that's why Til the Casket Drops awkwardly vacillates between confidence and complacency, between sneering at perceived competition and smarting at perceived and possibly self-made slights.
  12. 60
    In fact, throughout, older brother gets the best of his carefree little sibling. Breezier doesn't always equal better.
  13. The wrong turns don’t sink the album but steer it into an awkward middle place unbefitting the talented group behind the wheel.
  14. For better and for worse, Pusha T and Malice complement their beat selection on Til the Casket Drops. And it all makes for one of the year’s biggest disappointments from two of hip-hop’s best lyricists.
  15. Clipse seemed much more comfortable on Road, nesting inside the work of others. Casket provides no such comfort, finding them without their usual subject matter or a strong musical backbone, resulting in a clear sense of discomfort.
  16. Songs like the fluffy synth jam "Champion" make it sound like they spent too much time at Pharrell's beach house.
  17. With Til the Casket Drops, the Virginia Beach brothers achieve crossover status (hello, Kanye West and Keri Hilson) but lose the fire that defined 2002's Lord Willin' and 2006's Hell Hath No Fury.
  18. Uncut
    40
    They're back to tacky autopilot, forcing Sean C and LV to save face with two rousing contributions. [Apr 2010, p.84]

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