The Professional [PA]

Performer: DJ Clue?
Artist: Puff Daddy; Jadakiss; Styles; Drag-On; DMX; Cam'Ron; Big Pun; Noreaga; Canibus; Nas; Nature; Jay-Z; Ja Rule; EPMD; Foxy Brown; Eve; Memphis Bleek; Keith Murray; Redman; The Flipmode Squad; Fabulous Sport; Mase; Missy Elliott; Mocha; Nicole Wray; Jermaine Dupri; R.O.C.; Mobb Deep; Noyd; Raekwon; Lord Tariq; Muggs; Made Men; M.O.P.; Boot Camp Clik
Distributor: Fontana Distribution

Notes: Personnel: DJ Clue, Puff Daddy, DMX, Jadakiss, Styles, Drag-On, Eve, Cam-Ron, Big Pun, Noreaga, Canibus, Nas, Nature, Jay-Z, Ja Rule, Memphis Bleek, EPMD, Redman, Keith Murray, Flipmode Squad, Mase, Foxy Brown, Fabulous Sport, Mobb Deep, Noyd, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, Mocha, Nicole Wray, Jermaine Dupri, R.O.C., Raekwon, Lord Tariq, Muggs, Made Men, MOP, Baby Sham, Boot Camp Clik (rap vocals); Mariah Carey (vocals); David Matos (guitar); Martha Mook (strings); Lil' Rob (keyboards, bass); DURO (keyboards). Producers include: Swizz Beatz, Clue, DURO, Self, D.J. Scratch. Engineers include: Steve Sounder, Patrick Viala, Vaughn Session. Personnel: Ja Rule (vocals, rap vocals); Mase, Method Man, Big Punisher, Cam'ron, Canibus (rap vocals); David Anthony Matos (guitar). Audio Mixers: DJ Clue?; Paul Arnold. Recording information: Alien Flyers, New York, NY; Desert Storm Studios, New York, NY; Platinum Island Studios, New York, NY; Right Track Studios; Soundboy. Unknown Contributor Roles: DMX; Jay-Z; Jermaine Dupri; Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz; Mobb Deep; Nas; Noreaga; The LOX; Wu-Tang Clan; Busta Rhymes. DJ Clue has never been much of DJ. He's never worked with turntables, cut, scratched, mixed or blended beats, let alone pulled off any of the body tricks tricks that regularly make jaws drop. He has, however, risen to the top of the mixtape game, amassing an impressive collection of top-selling tapes and CDs famous for their exclusives from some of the industry's hottest artists and for Clue's own signature high-volume shouts. On THE PROFESSIONAL 3, Clue brings more of the same with exclusive cuts from hip-hop giants like Nas, Young Jeezy, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, Mobb Deep, M.O.P., Jadakiss, Fat Joe, and Fabolous, among others. Now rolling with Roc-A-Fella y'all, Clue?'s days of slinging tapes on your neighborhood corner are all but over. Recognized worldwide for reinventing the art of the mixtape, Clue? enlisted some of hip-hop's biggest guns for his major-label debut. Aiding Clue? in his quest for the Clueminati, Nas revisits his Illmatic roots with "Queensfinest." The pairing of Cam'Ron, Big Pun, Noreaga, and Canibus on "Fantastic Four" is worth mentioning solely for the hypnotic verse Canibus delivers. Jayhovah touches down, lending his labelmate a hand, combining forces with Ja-Rule for some "Gangsta Shit." Mobb Deep and Big Noyd are at it once again on "The Professional," as they are merciless on a fiery, violin-laced number from Vic. Meanwhile, EPMD and the Def Squad play hot potato on "It's My Thang '99" and Raekwon lends his lyrical swordmanship to "Brown Paper Bag Thoughts." Like any mixtape or soundtrack, you have to accept the good and bad with a grain of salt. Clue? makes feeble attempts to refresh cuts like "That's the Way" featuring Mase, Foxy, and Fabolous Sport and "I Like Control" featuring Missy, Mocha, and Nicole Wray, leaving them virtually untouched. Clue? definitely knows how to move the crowd and does serve up another installment of exclusive material, but he implements little of the turntable manipulation that makes DJs so vital to the art of hip-hop. As Pete Rock stated ever so eloquently, "This I dedicate to those mixtapes I hate/Exclusive sh*t/It holds no weight/Put your skills on the plate/Backspin to '88." ~ Matt Conaway And then DJ Clue rocked the roof off of your car. Clue and crew swoop down and make mincemeat of the joint with a fireball of raw ghetto rhyming, authentically old-school style loops and size-XL beats. The feel here is often spooky--from the mournful trumpet line and ominous harpsichord on "Exclusive-New Shit" to the plaintive piano fragments on "Thugged Out Shit," the samples give Clue's production the aural equivalent of a long, black cape. The guest list impresses as well: Big Pun, Noreaga, Nature, EPMD and Missy Elliott are just some of the hip-hop luminaries that make this thing burn. Flipmode Squad and the "Clue-minati" form an alliance on the hard-riffing "Whatever You Want," with the Flipmode kids' angular rhyming style enlivening this greenback anthem. DJ Clue has all the stylistic integrity of a real East Coast original.

Rolling Stone (2/18/99, p.58) - "...Less a scratchmaster...than a pure party mover....With its seamless club-style mixes, THE PROFESSIONAL comes off like a greatest-hits collection, except that these 'hits' haven't been released before." The Source (3/99, p.210) - "...THE PROFESSIONAL is another phat-ass Clue tape, more polished and with less shouts....And as a DJ, Clue's goals are unmistakable..."

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