This is the full-length debut solo album from Detroit emcee Mr. Cliffnote. Starting in 2006 off his eponymous debut mixtape, he would form the duo Sidenotes with the homie B-Side a little bit after that & went on to drop the sophomore tape Path to Notification followed by the Note to Self EP a few years ago, the latter of which I reviewed positively. Ahead of Path to Notification 2 however, Cliff’s celebrating his born day by releasing Duly Noted through The Davis Way’s label Architect Entertainment.
“New Jax” produced by Foul Mouth starts with a soul sample & Cliff mapping out the heart of the city instead of tryna party with the now disgraced music mogul Puff Daddy a.k.a. P. Diddy or Diddy whereas “Built fa Dis” takes the boom rap route instrumentally thanks to Nick Speed welcoming y’all to his church & asking to sing him a hymn. “Gonzo Outside” works in more sampling talking about still collecting chickens when he’s dead & gone prior to the slow jam “What’s It Gonna Be?” discussing not hesitating to throw away the goldmine when it’s go time.
Meanwhile on “Win Man”, we have Cliff fusing elements of trap & soul together thanking the most high for collecting all the Ws in his career leading into “Dreamin’ Season” maintains the soulful chops & hi-hats to talk about now being time to put the effort in instead of daydreaming all day. “Would Not Pay” gives off a classy boom bap vibe telling the story of a woman who got him saying all types of shit he wouldn’t find himself saying, but then “We Don’t Know You” featuring Fat Ray & Stretch Money brings the trio together for a nearly 3-minute Detroit trap heater.
“Pose fa da Photo” jumps on top of this delicate sample pointing out that you can get popped in his neck of the woods hence why he always carries a .44 Magnum on him while “Fuck Shit” goes for a summery boom bap flare telling everyone coming at him as a result of Talib Kweli unnecessarily dissing him to get off his dick. “Strathmoor Kid” has my favorite Detroit trap beat on the LP courtesy of DJ Jewels cautioning not to trip when you pitchin’ & them fastballs hittin’ just before “Soul Proprietor” featuring Kuniva finds the pair giving y’all food for thought over a boom bap instrumental that Ilajide cooked up.
Pushing towards the final moments of Duly Noted, the song “Movin’ Up” returns to a Detroit trap sound flexing that they don’t make ‘em like him anymore even if Rich Starz’ auto-tuned hook does absolutely nothing for me with all respect & “Gold Chain” ends on the soulful boom bap note with the help of Sterling Totes telling everyone listening to do things for hip hop culture that others out here won’t even do for themselves.
Kweli going at Cliff was further confirmation of what I said in my Liberation 2 review about Talib & one of my top 10 producers Kanye West in the sense that both of them are established veterans with an insane amount of artistic talent who publicly make asses of themselves on the regular since the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree in the grand scheme of things other than Kanye having a bigger platform than Kweli does. Duly Noted though has now become Cliff’s best work. The production that Foul Mouth, Nick Speed, DJ Jewels & Ilajide offer a unique mix of old & new sounds within the Detroit landscape & Cliff steps up his A-game lyrically.
Score: 8/10
