Hell Hath No Fury (Clipse album)

For the popular quote beginning, "Hell hath no fury..." see William Congreve
Hell Hath No Fury
Studio album by Clipse
Released November 28, 2006[1]
(See release history)
Recorded 2003–2006
Genre Hip hop
Length 48:41
Label Re-Up, Star Trak, Jive
Producer The Neptunes
Clipse chronology

Lord Willin'
(2002)		 Hell Hath No Fury
(2006)		 Til the Casket Drops
(2009)
Singles from Hell Hath No Fury
  1. "Mr. Me Too"
    Released: October 1, 2006
  2. "Wamp Wamp (What It Do)"
    Released: October 31, 2006

Hell Hath No Fury is the second studio album by hip hop duo Clipse. The album was released on December 7, 2006 in the United States, on Re-Up, Star Trak and Jive. Recording sessions for the album took place over a period of several years, and suffered numerous delays prior to release. Production was handled by The Neptunes.

Following the release of their debut studio album, Lord Willin', brothers Gene and Terrence Thornton began working on the album in late 2003, but were forced to delay development when several artists signed to Arista Records were dissolved into sister label Jive, as part of a larger merger between Sony Music Entertainment and BMG. This resulted in Star Trak moving to Interscope Records, signing a new distribution deal. Due to contractual requirements, Clipse were forced to remain with Jive. Upon completion of the album, the duo became increasingly frustrated with the label, as Jive was in favor of more pop-orientated acts. Clipse eventually requested a formal release from their contract with the label, which was denied. Clipse then sued Jive, eventually reaching a settlement on May 9, 2006.

Hell Hath No Fury landed at #14 on the Billboard 200 with 78,000 copies sold in the first week.[2] Two singles were released prior to the album, "Mr. Me Too" and "Wamp Wamp (What It Do)", both of which attained moderate chart success.

Upon its release, Hell Hath No Fury received universal acclaim from music critics, earning praise for its exotic production and inventive lyricism.

Overview

The material on Hell Hath No Fury is of a much darker tone than Clipse's debut album, due to the group's problematic relationship with Jive Records. From an interview with AllHipHop, in July 2006:

We were ready to get into the thick of things with the success of the first album … the songs we had done were really hot, but at that point in time we were in a different place, we were happier. Time passed, and we saw it was a big hold up, and the momentum, the people that waited for us, we took too long. We couldn't dare come out in the same mind frame as we did in Lord Willin' - so, now we mad, we angry, we pissed the fuck off.[3]

The group stated in a 2007 interview with Urb Magazine that, sonically, some of The Neptunes' production approach was an agreed stab at revising the textures of experimental 1980s Hip Hop such as Mantronix.

Clipse began recording the album in late 2003. Work on the album was halted in 2004, when Arista Records—their label at the time—was dissolved into its sister label Jive Records, as part of a larger merger between Sony Music Entertainment and BMG. Because of contractual issues, the group was forced to stay with Jive.

While Clipse resumed work on the album, its release was delayed by Jive throughout the rest of 2004 and much of 2005. Additional delays resulted when Clipse sued Jive after the label refused to grant the group a release from its contract. These legal issues would not be resolved until May 2006.[4] Further delays pushed the August 29 release date to October 31 and then November 28.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic link
Robert Christgau (A) link
Entertainment Weekly (A) link
The Guardian link
The New York Times (favorable) link
Pitchfork Media (9.1/10) link
PopMatters (8/10) link
Rolling Stone link
Stylus Magazine (A-) link
XXL (XXL)[5]

The album received rave reviews from music critics. On Metacritic, the album received an aggregate score of 89/100 from 29 reviews—indicating "universal acclaim".[6] Critics praised the inventiveness of Clipse's lyrics and the exotic elements of The Neptunes' production.

Accolades

The album was ranked first on Prefix magazine's "Best Albums of 2006"[7] and number nine on Blender magazine's "The 50 Greatest CDs of 2006".[8] Pitchfork Media ranked the song "Trill" at number six in "The Top 100 Tracks of 2006".[9] The album was the sixth in the history of XXL magazine to receive a "XXL" rating. The Sunday Times, which ranked it fourth in its list of the best pop and rock records of 2007, called it a "claustrophobically edgy account of drug-dealing and paranoia, whipped up by The Neptunes into a storm of sonic inventiveness no other hip-hop release in 2007 came close to matching."[10] Pitchfork placed the album at #7 for the best of the year in 2006 and at #52 on the list of the Top 200 Albums of the 2000s (decade), one of the highest rankings for a rap album.[11] In 2010, Rhapsody (online music service) called it one of the best "coke rap" albums ever.[12] In 2012 Complex named the album one of the classic albums of the last decade.[13]

Track listing

All tracks produced by The Neptunes.

No. Title Length
1. "We Got It for Cheap" (Intro) 3:41
2. "Momma I'm So Sorry"   3:57
3. "Mr. Me Too" (featuring Pharrell) 3:41
4. "Wamp Wamp (What It Do)" (featuring Slim Thug) 4:00
5. "Ride Around Shining" (featuring Ab-Liva) 3:56
6. "Dirty Money"   3:46
7. "Hello New World" (featuring Pharrell) 4:12
8. "Keys Open Doors"   3:19
9. "Ain't Cha" (featuring Re-Up Gang) 4:42
10. "Trill" (featuring Pharrell) 4:43
11. "Chinese New Year" (featuring Rosco P. Coldchain) 3:54
12. "Nightmares" (featuring Bilal & Pharrell) 4:50

Charts

Charts (2006)[14] Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 200 14
U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 2

References

  1. ↑ US. "Clipse | Gratis muziek, tourneedata, foto's, video's". Myspace.com. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
  2. ↑ "Clipse catch a brick". Xxlmag.Com. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  3. ↑ Kandyba, Slav (August 11, 2006). The Clipse: Lyrical Lazarus. AllHipHop. Accessed June 9, 2008.
  4. ↑ Lopez, Rodrigo (May 9, 2006). On an interview with Larry King, Pusha T said that The Clipse were special guests at Kanye West's birthday performing the whole album to which Kanye knew all the lyrics. Clipse Tour With Ice Cube; Album Release Date Set. AllHipHop. Accessed June 9, 2008.
  5. ↑ Frederick, Brendan (September 25, 2006). Review: Hell Hath No Fury. XXL. Archived from the original at the Wayback Machine (archived July 3, 2007) on 2010-09-21.
  6. ↑ Clipse: Hell Hath No Fury (2006): Reviews. Metacritic. Accessed April 14, 2008.
  7. ↑ Best Albums of 2006: Picks 10 to 1. Prefix magazine (December 13, 2006). Accessed June 9, 2008.
  8. ↑ The 50 Greatest CDs of 2006. Blender magazine (January/February 2007). Accessed June 9, 2008.
  9. ↑ Dombal, Ryan (December 18, 2006). The Top 100 Tracks of 2006. Pitchfork Media. Accessed June 9, 2008.
  10. ↑ Records of the year. The Times (December 2, 2007). Accessed June 9, 2008.
  11. ↑ The Top 200 Albums of the 2000s. Pitchfork (October 1, 2009). Accessed December 28, 2009.
  12. ↑ Album Guide To Coke Rap Referenced 26 July 2010
  13. ↑ http://www.complex.com/music/2012/12/25-rap-albums-from-the-past-decade-that-deserve-classic-status/clipse-hell-hath-no-fury
  14. ↑ allmusic ((( Clipse > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums ))). Allmusic. Accessed April 23, 2008.

External links