*Compilation, no rating given*

After having a stranglehold on the mixtape circuit for the better part of two years (EXCLUSIVES), Clue ran into hefty competition from Kay Slay, Whoo Kid and nameless others.  Thankfully, for Clue, he struck while the irons were hot and parlayed that mixtape success into a deal with Jay-Z (major label distribution for Jay-Z’s Hardknock Life tour LP) and eventually his own label deal.  That success was capped off last year with the Desert Storm debut from Fabolous. 

Now, after trading in his mixtape hustle for one of the corporate variety (and a spot on MTV’s Direct Effect to boot) Clue is now cosigning his very own replacement in protégée DJ Envy (who bills himself as the people’s choice).  With Blok Party Vol.1 it seems that Envy has been tutored well, not only is there a wide-variety of styles to pick and choose from, but he has also adopted Clue’s irritating manner (to his own detriment) of yelling over the tracks; come on dawg, this is a major label release, not a corner bodega offering.

Like any mixtape endeavor, Blok Party Vol. 1, revolves around big name artists and there are plenty of them here.  Yet, the roster is mostly aesthetic as most of the star-power derived from these names fails to deliver; throwaway tracks from Foxy & Loon (“So Ill”), Ja-Rule, Lil Mo and Vita (“We Fly”) DMX (“Deeper”) and Style has a Vinnie Babirino moment with “What, Why, Where, When” on a keyboard track that is so minimal it sounds like it was hurriedly thrown together in five-minutes or less.  However, a few constant mixtape staples step up to at least break the monotony,  G-Units next star, Lloyd Banks, spits the slick shit on “What Goes Around” and even manages to throw another barb in Ja-Rule’s direction (on a compilation Ja just happens to appear on, now that’s Gangsta) “as far as Charlie her studio hour is a waste/she look like she took a bag of flour in the face/you want street credibility instead I’ma sting you/come on Ja you put a fucking crackhead on your single.” Like wise Jay-Z blazes (“Who else you know on probation, leave the country for a month and go on vacation”) the adrenaline infested snyth throbs of “H.O.V.A,” Redman freaks (“I’m shitting on ya’ll and I ain’t begin to clean colon”) the guerilla funk of Erick Sermon on “So Vicious” and Rah Digga (still the best female lyricist) and Busta combine lovely on “Throw Your Shit Up.”

While Envy tries to supply the best of both worlds with regional inclusions from Juvenile, Murphy Lee, Petey Pablo and even an excursion in the R&B realm (3LW’s “Can I Talk 2 U”).  These mass transit attempts at morphing genre’s results in an over ambitious nature that nets little concept or flow.   And what’s a mixtape if you can’t get your boys involved, as Clue and Envy find plenty of room for latest “finds” Joe Budden (“Focus”) Paul Cain and Fabolous who all multitask on “Grand Theft Audio.”

While Envy plays into the home court advantage and includes enough NYC mainstays to have Blok Party in constant rotation, there’s not many heads outside of the tri-borough regions that will relate.