Review Summary: Terror thinly disguised as bravado, music that pushes the limits of production, Hell Hath No Fury is nearly unparalleled in rap music. A perfect album. Brothers Terrence and Gene Thornton end the final verses on their magnum opus, Hell Hath No Fury, in very similar and very important ways. After eleven straight tracks of unrepentant evil, everything comes to a head on the grand finale, “Nightmares”. First comes Gene, standing on the balcony of his ill gotten home, jaw set, glaring through his Louie V Millionaire sunglasses.
“One day, they may even catch up to me man/But ‘til then I’m Leonardo, catch me if you can – UH!” Then his brother, cruising through his city, contemplating the men he’s killed and the women he’s used. “Something’s wrong with me/Niggas don’t get along with me/Got a fo-fo/Hope your body got strong kidneys – OH!” Those final exclamations are the surprised cries of two drug-dealing brothers as bullets find their targets, the sound of death finally taking them. Back through the album, back past the album release date, back, back, back, back to 2003.
After being knee deep in the rap game for years, Clipse were no strangers to being f.cked with by record labels. Their entire debut album, Exclusive Audio Footage, had been completed in the late 90’s and shelved by Elektra Records for having no commercial potential. The brothers Thornton had to wait their turn once again. Then, in 2001, Pharrell Williams, a friend of the Thorntons since childhood, got his own imprint on Arista Records, Star Trak, and quickly signed Clipse. Now under a label run by someone who fully recognized their potential, Clipse were getting their shot.
Released in 2002 Lord Willin’ was a solid album with a lead single so earth shaking its producer had to state on its intro that nobody had ever heard anything like this before. “Grindin’” changed everything, shaving everything down to an ever mutating drum pattern, a few synth plinks, and Pusha T and Malice laying down diamond hard bars, it became an unlikely top 40 hit and gave the Clipse the platform they needed to take creative control of their sophomore effort.
This brings us to where we left off in 2003, recording their sophomore album. Details are scarce on this period but what is known is financing for recording was cut in 2004 as Arista Records was absorbed into Jive Records under a merger between Sony Music and BMG. Clipse had to stay on Jive while Star Trak moved to Interscope Records.
I hate to say it, but thank god this happened. Had things gone smoothly label wise, Hell Hath No Fury would have probably been released sometime in 2004 and been a good album. But that’s not how things worked out; instead, Clipse’s biggest ally Pharrell was under Interscope and Jive couldn’t give two.s about Clipse. The frustration of countless delays lit a fire under the Thornton’s ass, they gave us the awesome mixtapes We Got it For Cheap Vol. I & II, taking beats from bigger artists and crushing them off their own songs. At the same time, the songs for HHNF became venomous reflections of the torment caused by being famous rappers forced to return to the drug dealing they had left behind. “That was the darkest time in my life”, Terrence told Pitchfork in 2011, “At the time, one of my good friends pulled me aside and was like, ‘I keep forgetting that you rap,’ because we were so involved with other.
We were supplementing our income, doing everything we could.” After suing their label for a release from their contract, an agreement was finally reached with Jive and Hell Hath No Fury released in 2006. While I don’t agree with Jive’s decision to make life hell for Clipse for so long, I understand. Hell Hath No Fury contains no clear singles. Imagine being the Jive employee who had to sit down and figure out which of these singles would be a hit. The best they could do was pull the song that called them unfair crackers and threatened to murder them in the music video, and that’s the lead single. No R&B hooks, no big name guest artists, no concessions to rap radio, not even a skit.
Clipse had no idea if they were going to get another shot at this, not a second could be wasted. When The Neptunes produced Noreaga’s Superthug in 1998 it debuted a fully formed sound that would mutate in ways both subtle (“Caught Out There”, “Southern Hospitality”) and smooth (“Rock Your Body”, “Beautiful”).
Beginning with “Superthug”, The Neptunes could be counted on to deliver smash hit singles that sounded like nothing else on the radio. But The Neptunes relationship with Clipse was different, Chad and Pharrell had been working with Clipse longer than anyone else and because of that history the Thornton brothers would accept nothing but their rawest, grimiest productions, hit singles be dammed. Pusha T told Indy Weekly in 2007, “We don’t go into it saying, ‘Hey let’s make a hit!’ We go into it saying, ‘Yo, lets change the game.’” On Hell Hath No Fury, The Neptunes ended their legendary run with 12 perfect productions, each just as lethal as the last. Some of the alchemy conjured up on this thing defies words. “Mr Me Too” leaks a bloody mist of synth into the air as a single tone pulses through the haze.
The drums on “Wamp Wamp (What It Do)” are like having your teeth knocked out by a ball pin hammer, listen close to hear a spinning ratchet alternate between channels as the percussion line loops. A robot choir on “Keys Open Doors” sound terrified at their own nonexistence while a twinkling bell slashes against woodblock and rim shot. As futile as this is, if I absolutely had to pick a best beat it would go to “Ride Around Shining”.
A row of piano strings are strummed until every single one is vibrating, then that sound is looped until it hangs in the air like the sword of Damocles. No wait, the best beat has to be “Trill”. A horde of synth locusts pulse and twist through the air as bass plunks and hissing hi-hats desperately try to fight their way up through the mix but get beat down again by that disgusting synth line.
No no no, it has to be “Chinese New Year”, drums sparking and sputtering like an exposed power line while squealing keyboards disappear into the atmosphere. Ahh, see' This is impossible; a case could be made for every track here. Even now, someone reading this is shocked I didn’t mention the rusty guitar line of “Dirty Money” but I have to end this paragraph or I’ll talk about the beats all day. Had this collection of beats been given to anyone else, they would have been swallowed whole. Clipse were the only ones who knew The Neptunes well enough to work with these beats without being overshadowed. Their styles, always efficient never showy, are used to convey a very important fact about Hell Hath No Fury.
Drugs are sold, women are.ed and ducked, guns are fired, currency is exchanged for goods and services, and nobody, I repeat, nobody is having any fun here. This is conscious hip-hop with no conscious. We joining the Thornton brothers at the 3rd act of their story, the thrill of the drug trade and fast money has been replaced by the joyless inertia of maintaining their lifestyle.
“Me and my misses like Soloman and Sheeba/Sign of the times her Emilio Pucci sneakers” raps Pusha. King Soloman was well known for his wisdom and riches, showering his many wives and concubines with gifts. Soloman’s fall came in the form of idolatry, renouncing his God and turning to pagan magic, tearing his kingdom apart.
So too does Pusha T, bowing before the throne of cocaine, despite his record contract, he continues to sell. “Open the Frigidaire, 25 to life in here/So much white you might think your holy Christ is near,” he claims.
Meanwhile, his brother Malice’s conscious eats at him. It makes sense he would turn to Christianity later in life, he is much worse at being the bad guy here.
“Even my baby mama, I cant look you in the face/Cause I can’t do enough, you a symbol of God’s grace/So I place you in the flower bed, porcelain shower heads/Throughout the house and keep the youngin’s mouths fed,” he wants to do better, he wants to raise a proper family and go straight but like his brother he cannot make a clean break. “Listen youngin’, you’ve only just begun/You’ll understand when you’re older/Said father to the son.” The Thornton brother’s disgust for their profession runs so deep it escapes as Pusha’s ad-lib of choice.
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When you release an album to a fickle hip hop audience and it manages to sell over half a million copies, you would think that the record label would do their damnedest to rush a follow-up effort to the shelves, right? Normally, that's exactly what happens, but in the case of the brothers Thornton, professionally known as the Virginia rap duo Clipse, Jive Records shelved the masters for their second released (and third recorded) album, primarily because Pusha T and Malice refused to play by the rules. Their official debut, Lord Willin', was met with both critical and commercial acclaim, based on some strongly produced Neptunes tracks and the polished coke raps of the duo, who came off as vivid storytellers from them corners who weren't so wound up in their business that they couldn't see the humor in everything they did. The first two singles, the minimalist brilliance that is 'Grindin' and the club hit 'When The Last Time' (relatively speaking; I've never actually heard that song in the club, but I assume it was played at least once), pushed the album toward a gold RIAA plaque, and Jive was excited for the brothers to hit the studios again to record more coke raps to club-banging instrumentals. However, Pusha T and Malice decided to take the 'artistic growth' route, and the recording sessions for were dominated by some of the darkest tracks of their career, which caused a lot of magazine critics to compare this disc to the HBO series The Wire, which is a brilliant piece of work in and of itself. Pusha and Malice followed up on their new found fortune and fame by describing some of the lesser-popularized lessons that are taught on the streets, and the paranoia that accompanies in the sidecar. Pharrell Williams (of production giants The Neptunes) handled all of the production exclusively, as Chad Hugo was apparently outside getting the newspaper, and while most labels would have been thrilled to be able to market an album entirely produced by The Neptunes, Jive Records immediately pulled the 'there isn't a radio single on this album' card and shelved the fucker, where it almost met the same fate as the Clipse's actual first album, Exclusive Audio Footage.
Typically, this business move by the label had some repercussions. Predictably, as is the nature of today's hip hop climate, the Clipse immediately recorded a series of mixtapes with their rap partners in their newly-formed Re-Up Gang (which officially consists of Pusha T, Malice, Sandman, and Ab-Liva), which were titled We Got It For Cheap, and they became immediate hits, so at least they were able to keep their names in the spotlight. In an attempt to appease Jive's need for a radio single, Pharrell accidentally tossed a rock at the throne of Def Jam president Shawn Carter (more on that below). And, in a move that can be categorized as both history-making and a really stupid move, Pharrell pulled all of his production contributions to Jive labelmate Justin Timberlake's sophomore effort, and refused to sign off on them until was released as-is.
While it's admirable that Skateboard P was so loyal to his boys, this final move actually caused the label to get Timbaland to essentially produce almost the entirety of what would later be called Futuresex/Lovesounds (originally, Timbo was only going to do half of the disc, in keeping with the tradition that had started with Timberlake's first solo album Justified), which would be one of the few albums that would sell more than one million copies and spawn multiple hit singles. Um, smart move, P? Anyway, after multiple false starts (it was once scheduled to drop on Halloween 2006, which would have been appropriate), Jive finally released to critical acclaim and zero fucking sales, thanks to a combination of no marketing effort and the album leaking in its entirety a few weeks prior to release (probably leaked by someone at the label in an effort to piss off the brothers).
Relations with Jive were strained to the breaking point, and the Clipse soon bailed on the label completely, signing with Rick Rubin, and announcing that their next album would not feature exclusive Neptunes production, although there is no beef in that camp. Which is just as well, anyway, 1. WE GOT IT FOR CHEAP (INTRO) (FEAT SPANISH LEE) A very underwhelming introductory song.
The title may be lifted from their successful series of mixtapes, but this song doesn't evoke similar feelings. The sample lifted from Pulp Fiction near the end helps, though.
MOMMA I'M SO SORRY Is that a fucking accordion? I didn't care for this track at first, but once it grew on me, it became very difficult to get the beat unstuck from my head. Several surgeries later, doctors were successful in removing it, but now I'm unable to play the piano with my left nut, which isn't necessarily something I was able to do before getting the procedure done, but I liked having the option. ME TOO (FEAT PHARRELL WILLIAMS) The slow-churning first single, as potent today as it was two years ago, although the Max in 2008 is wondering why the hell Pharrell is the lead-off rapper on the song that was supposed to be the comeback single for the Clipse.
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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. An unforgivable mean streak powers this album, which is no surprise considering the endlessly documented label drama Clipse have endured, and the ascetic rage that courses through their music. Push and Mal spent much of their lauded 2005 mixtape, We Got It 4 Cheap Vol. 2, elucidating both their ethical and financial dealings: They were cold-blooded, joyous, and morally complex all at once.
But the subject matter remained mostly street talk- deals, slang, stunting- with dabs of glitz tossed in. This album isn't about cocaine per se; it's the aftershock of a coke sale-infused existence. The results spray everywhere, from the vacant spending spree of 'Dirty Money' to the terrifyingly earned braggadocio of 'Trill'. This is lifestyle assertion, not something as negligible and confined as drug music. The two men in the middle of it all are brilliant at nearly every turn. The younger Thornton brother, Pusha, remains star and stylist, brazenly dishing on minor details like his sunglasses ('Louis V Millionaires to kill the glare') while injecting a malevolent, almost maniacal intensity to his verses.
His elder brother, Malice, is the vulnerable antecedent, not without floss but more leaning on family and fraternity: 'Grandma, look at me, I'm turnin' the other cheek,' he laments on 'We Got It For Cheap (Intro)'. Their rhyme patterns aren't overwhelmingly technical; Pusha rhymes straightforward syllables without tangling his syntax into a jumbled hush-mutter. (Jay-Z, take note: Sometimes directness is a blessing.) And, as if the sniping slow burn of lead single 'Mr.
Me Too' wasn't enough notice, Clipse are self-contained entities, seemingly uninfluenced by their contemporaries. Occasionally they recall duos of the past- EPMD's playfulness, Outkast's willingness to attempt the unconventional, Mobb Deep's unerring rancor- but they're true only to their sound, a simmering executioner's song. Rarely explicitly violent, their blistering conviction feels like carnage on 'What It Do (Wamp Wamp)'- Malice even compares himself to the genocidal Hutu tribe on the track. It confirms their unjustifiable relishing of moral decay, and while it's impossible to comprehend or condone, the energy and flair is undeniable. All that said, the Neptunes' mystifying, irregular sonics further elevate the record.
When the drum sounds are light and chimey, the surrounding melodies sound sinister and serpentine. Otherwise that formula is completely flipped, as doorknocker snares often accompany spacious arrangements. It's an interesting juxtaposition- fitting the furious and odd against bubbly and blissful- but this is what the Neptunes have always done best (think Noreaga's 'Superthug' or Kelis' 'Milkshake'). Accordions, steel pan drums, harps, distorted synths, cowbell- Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo throw everything at Clipse. (One assumes Hugo, whose work has leaned toward the dark and spare in the past, had a large hand in this album.) 'Trill' and 'Ride Around Shining' in particular are monstrous, freakishly beautiful constructions. 'Trill' surrounds you with its blown-out bass sound while the tense harp plucks of 'Ride', posed against clipped groans and a single straining high note, are both fractured and gorgeous.
But what's perhaps most important here is that Hell Hath No Fury is uncompromising music: Delayed more than three years and pushed into some unclear anticipation vortex, Clipse still refused to make concessions. The one ballad, 'Nightmares', featuring Bilal, is long and morose and ragged, while the frothiest ditty is about spending drug money on expensive shoes. Clipse make street music, so the more unlikely members of their fanbase- hipsters, bloggers, students- might seem perplexing. Of course, their wit and verve, always touched by a hint of self-loathing, connects with most anyone who's done any wrong in their life.
Living with yourself can be a tricky thing, and for Clipse, that's now truer than ever.
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Related Subs. (for graffiti). Welcome to the Essential Album of the Week discussion thread! Every Wednesday we will discuss an album from our. Beginning with our list, we'll be moving chronologically to times. Last week's EAOTW: Album: - (Star Trak) Stream/Purchase Songs/Singles Background/Description(courtesy ofAllmusic) Rap and drugs. The somewhat unholy marriage is now decades deep.
Not surprisingly, the conjunction has produced some dynamic musical results that have been readily smoked, ingested, and snorted by the mainstream music listening public. Back in the late '80s, Ice-T was one of the first rappers to blur the lines between the rap world and the underworld. On his single 'I'm Your Pusher,' which tastefully sampled Curtis Mayfield's 'Pusherman,' Ice-T compared his whole album (Power, 1988) to drug weight, proposing that his music would be something rap fans would fiend for the same way a smoker fiends for nicotine. In the early part of the 21st century, after the Virginia-based production team the Neptunes' had splashed their electro-synth beats everywhere, from songs with hardcore rapper N.O.R.E. To pop sensation Britney Spears, Pharrell Williams and partner Chad Hugo created their own label, Star Trak. The first act signed to the Star Trak label was a pair of Neptunes cohorts known as the Clipse, a sibling duo of highly skilled VA transplants (by way of the Bronx) with some obvious nefarious connections to the world of drug hustling.
Pusha T and Malice rocked the rap world in the summer of 2002 with their first single, 'Grindin',' a dark and gritty tale of the street pharmacist's everyday strive to make ends meet. Over a thunderous throwback knock from the Neptunes, 'Grindin' was one of the summer of 2002's most prolific anthems and transported the Clipse to the realm of overnight rap success. Lord Willin' is an oft-scary trip down the backstreets of Tobacco Road as Malice and Pusha T recount the trials and tribulations of the drug trafficker-turned-MC.
Following in the footsteps of such rap criminologists as Kool G Rap, Nas, Jay-Z, and Mobb Deep, the Clipse offer the Virginia hustler's viewpoint with clever, hard-hitting lyrics like: '.I'm from Virginia where ain't s t to do but cook/pack it up, sell it triple price/fk the books.' And 'Virginia's for lovers but trust there's hate here.' While the two MCs' presence is invariably formidable on virtually all of the tracks, the Neptunes' pop-ish turn in their beatwork doesn't always do justice to the depths that the Clipse MCs wish to plunder. The Neptunes' synth-gloss production style, while generally soulful and rarely without edge, misses the mark in case of the crossoverish 'Ma, I Don't Love Her' featuring Faith Evans, as the MCs seem thoroughly out of their element. The album also has a slapped-together, non-cohesive feel that detracts from its more enjoyable aspects. On the flip side, the follow-up club-banger 'When the Last Time' is a catchier alternative to the crew's lead single and tracks like 'Comedy Central' featuring Fabolous and 'I'm Not You' featuring Jadakiss and Styles of the L.O.X. Are also a cut above run-of-the-mill.
Guidelines This is an open thread for you to share your thoughts on the album. Avoid vague statements of praise or criticism. This is your chance to practice being a critic. It's fine for you to drop by just to say you love the album, but let's try and step it up a bit!!! How has this album affected hip-hop? WHY do you like this tape? What are the best tracks?
Do you think it deserves the praise it gets? Is it the first time you've listened to it? What's your first impression? Have you listened to the artist before? Explain why you like it or why you don't. DON'T FEEL BAD ABOUT BEING LATE!!!! Discussion throughout the week is encouraged.
Maybe not as 'essential' as (a top 5 rap album OAT for me) Hell Hath No Fury, but truly fantastic. There's nothing to say about 'Grindin' that hasn't been said, one of the most perfect hip hop songs I've ever heard.
A lot of people love the first half of this record (reasonably, all bangers), but I think the second half is criminally underrated. Look at 'Ego'. Dope hook, with the great little Pharrell appearance and both Push and Malice flow so effortlessly over such a cool beat. 'Comedy Central' is straight bars from everyone and the beat is crazy. 'Let's Talk About It' is classic Clipse minus the boring Jermaine Dupri verse (kills the hook tho) and Pharrell's bridge/hook on 'Gangsta Lean' is unbelievable. Also the Intro gets me irrationally hyped every time I hear it.
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This is a really great record. The Neptunes/Clipse combination was really something special, and this record proves that (HHNF goes beyond proving that, but that's for a different thread). This album exemplifies one of the issues I have with the new essentials list. Honestly, the (great) recap up top describes it as 'a cut above run-of-the-mill.'
That's the threshhold these days? Which isn't to say there aren't a few classic tracks on here. Who doesn't love 'Grindin' or 'When the Last Time' or even the intro?
But this isn't essential by any stretch. I feel like it's a mid-range cut at best, with a few great tracks weighed down by (in my opinion) dross like that freestyle track or 'Ma I don't love her'. There's no such thing as an essential album with two Roscoe P. Coldchain verses. Stray thoughts: -I think Malice and Pusha were still figuring their deliveries and identities out. Their voices kind of blur in this album, whereas it's easier to tell them apart, in both content and delivery, in later albums (hello HHMF).
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I will say that Malice drops a few allusions to the Bible throughout the album, most famously the Cain-and-Abel wordplay in 'Grindin', but mostly they seem interchangeable here in a way they don't in, say, the later albums, where Malice is the conscience and Pusha is the secular flash up front.Has anyone ever noticed that at the beginning of the Clipse's career Malice opened most of the tracks (like on 'What Happened to That Boy') but later on it was almost always Pusha? I think early on Malice, the older brother, was projected as the unofficial of the group before they both realized Pusha T had more charisma.That cover remains hilarious and terrible.Clipse are amongst the funniest rappers out there. 'What did it, the whip appeal-or my baby face?' I think early on Malice, the older brother, was projected as the unofficial of the group before they both realized Pusha T had more charisma. I think so too. In some interview I watched, Pusha said (pre-Clipse) Malice was the one who was into rapping first, and then he hopped on after. Pusha said something like they formed a group cause he didn't want to write multiple verses for a song or something like that, so yeah it does seem like Malice was the head at the beginning.
But I think Pusha has always stood out a bit more personally. So what's the definition of an esswntial album?
Has it ever been defined by the community? There's a number of albums that should be considered essential listening just by virtue of their impact and not necessarily because they're better than any others. Take NWA - I'd argue that Niggaz4Life is their best work but Straight Outta Compton would be on my essentials list well before it. There's also some tracks that stand alone as essentials that aren't usually diacussed. And I'm not saying this is one of those albums, I'm just wondering about what defines an essential album as far as HHH is concerned.
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