Grindin'

For other songs, see Grind (disambiguation).
"Grindin'"
Single by Clipse
from the album Lord Willin'
ReleasedMay 14, 2002 (2002-05-14)
Recorded2001
Genre
Length4:24
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Clipse singles chronology
"Grindin'"
(2002) 		"When the Last Time"
(2002)

"Grindin'" is the debut single by the American hip-hop duo Clipse. The song was produced by the Neptunes, and was issued as the lead single for Clipse's debut studio album, Lord Willin' (2002) on May 14, 2002. The song became a summer top 40 hit, peaking at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the issue dated August 10, 2002.

The song's beat was far more sparse in its percussive drum and woodblock arrangement than most popular hip-hop tracks at the time, predating later sparse Neptunes productions such as Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot", that would further capitalize and expand on this style.

In 2024, the song appeared on the Neptunes member Pharrell Williams' soundtrack album Piece by Piece (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).

Background

In 2020, Pusha T stated that Pharrell nearly gave the beat to Jay-Z following a quarrel with the duo.[1]

The song's instrumental was sampled in Chris Brown's 2019 song "Sorry Enough", and later in the ensemble track "Friday Night Cypher" by Big Sean, as one of the seven beats used (this sample was used twice in the track).

Remix

There were two official remixes released: one featuring new verses by Pusha T and Malice featuring Noreaga, Birdman and Lil Wayne, and the other, a selector remix featuring dancehall artists Sean Paul, Bless and Kardinal Offishall. Both remixes feature the same instrumental but a different verse performed by Pusha T.

Trivia

The song is featured in the popular video games Saints Row, NBA 2K15 and NBA 2K25. The intro was also used in the 2003 comedy film Malibu's Most Wanted. Pharrell added the song on his soundtrack album Piece by Piece (Original Motion Pictures Soundtrack).

Reception

Pitchfork ranked the song at number 27 in "The Top 500 of the Tracks of the 2000s".[2] The song was also listed at number 84 in Rolling Stone's best songs of the 2000s and at number 281 on their top 500 best songs of all time.[3][4] Hip-hop writer Shea Serrano listed the song as the most important rap song of 2002 in his book The Rap Yearbook.[5]

Charts

References

  1. ^ "Knowledge Drop: Pharrell Threatened to Give the Beat to Clipse's "Grindin to Jay-Z".
  2. ^ The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. Pitchfork. Accessed October 23, 2015.
  3. ^ 100 Best Songs of 2000s Rolling Stone. Accessed October 24, 2015.
  4. ^ "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2021-09-15. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  5. ^ Serrano, Shea (October 24, 2015). The Rap Yearbook.
  6. ^ "Clipse Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  7. ^ "Clipse Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  8. ^ "Clipse Chart History (Hot Rap Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  9. ^ "Clipse Chart History (Rhythmic)". Billboard. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  10. ^ "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs – Year-End 2002". Billboard. Retrieved March 2, 2021.


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