CLIPSE - Hell Hath No Fury Review

With the long-delayed, viciously imagined Hell Hath No Fury, Clipse-- hip-hop's meanest, smartest duo-- have done what a gathering collection of internet seekers, record-store goers, and street corner mixtape shoppers hoped they might: release a classic. With musical partners the Neptunes, Clipse have crafted 12 unrelenting tales of desperation and distribution, glamour and gloating. Lyrically, the album is spare and incisive-- wordplay abounds but the punches are quick and devastating-- and musically, Malice and Pusha T have arguably snatched the best dozen Neptunes tracks in years. Together, the quartet has crafted an album that's sonically deep, dark, and one of 2006's finest....full text Clipse, the gangster synesthetes, splashed their home state with anxious twilight-blues, sickly dollar bill greens, and endless buckets of bloody reds on their 2002 full-length debut Lord Willin’. But on Hell Hath No Fury, the duo’s famously long-delayed second full length, they take all their Technicolor pyrex-and-Swiss-bank-account stories and add a calm, compelling dash of foggy grey distance. It makes their second album not just one of the stand-out rap albums of the year, but one of the most unsettlingly restrained gangster rap albums in recent memory....full text The dope dealer persona has always had its place in Hip-Hop. UGK coined the phrase "Riding Dirty," Jay painted Technicolor style pictures of the ups and down of the game, and B.I.G. broke down the ten rules of success. Since their 2002 "debut", Lord Willin', the Clipse have stayed true to their own brand of cocaine rap. Their blaring smash "Grindin'" had the streets shaking and made way for another synonym for the hand to hand trade to be added to the official slang dictionary. Praised by critics and block huggers alike, Lord Willin' made it clear that Virginia wasn’t only for lovers. After four years, a couple of classic mixtapes and plenty of label contractual drama; the brothers Thornton's re-up Hell Hath No Fury (Re-Up/Star Trak/Jive) is finally bagged up and ready for the streets. Entirely produced by The Neptunes, the wait is well worth it as Malice and Pusha deliver that uncut audio dope....full text Like Brian Wilson's Smile, the dramatic lead-in to Hell Hath No Fury (or Hell Hath Frozen Over, as it should be renamed) -- from shelved because of a label merger (Jive ate up Arista, Clipse's old label) to pushed back because of its bleak commercial prospects (Jive didn't hear a single, the sluts) -- was nearly enough to overshadow the record's actual merits. Nearly. Amazing what a couple of self-released mixtapes, one in particular (last year's We Got It 4 Cheap, Vol. 2), can do for momentum. Gone was the frivolousness that characterized too much of Clipse's debut, 2002's Lord Willin'. In its place was scorn, burn, bitterness, even hate....full text