Smoking Sessions With Clipse

"Fifteen Minutes With..."    By Gotty™ on November 26, 2006 at 9:06 am

Eghck!

To the unintiated, the above may be the hardest thing ever to pronounce. But to many, it’s a word that’s been eagerly awaited to be heard again on a retail release. And after four years, that time is finally upon us.

The reason for the wait? Let’s backtrack, in brief.

The multiplatinum album Lord Willin’. The predictions of future greatness and high expectations. Then, the label fiasco. The infamous merger with birthed the oft-referred to hiatus. Two solid mixtapes to keep the fans fiendin. All lead us up to, finally, Hell Hath No Fury by The Clipse, set to finally release on November 28.

Unequivocally, no one can do it better – D.O.C. when it comes to spitting some of the most vivid fish scale tales in recent rap history. Brothers Pusha T and Malice both have master giving off an appearance of cold calculated nonchalance and playfulness in their rhyming voices. And with the world awaiting their opus, recieving an XXL rating from the magazine of the same name, we had a second to speak to the two concerning their upcoming release.

TSS: What’s good?

Clipse: Aight, what’s up?

TSS:What’s the inspiration behind Hell Hath No Fury?

Pusha T: Just havin’ to sit down for four years. You saw with the first single ‘Mr. Me Too‘ we were addressin’ not only industry stuff but things going on in the street like all the other Mr. Me Too’s out there. Label drama. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned is how the saying goes but we comin’ with that same wrath, that same vengeance.

TSS: How excited are you about the album coming out now?

Malice: We real excited, you know what I’m sayin’, at this point it’s just gettin’ the music out there to our fans since it’s been four years.

TSS: With this new album, since it’s been four years, did you have to go back into the studio to do any new material?

Malice: Definitely, the whole album is revamped. We couldn’t even do the same album ‘cause we weren’t in the same spirits. It was a heavier time; we didn’t have the same energy.

TSS: There’s a lot of MC’s and groups out there doing “cocaine rap“; how much of that do you feel stems from your influence as artists?

P: That’s exactly what they do. That’s not what we do, ‘nahmean? There’s just a lot of literature in these verses, a lot of metaphors and we kick the writing from a different perspective than everybody else, you know what I’m sayin’? And we hate getting labeled ‘cocaine music.’ We aint even gon’ ride with that one.

TSS: Gotcha. So I was at your show at the Knitting Factory in NYC last November and you had a packed house that night. There were a lot of college age kids from the suburbs, which was surprising. How do you feel about that part of your fan base and getting that music out there to them?

M: I think it’s just good that people are listenin’ to these verses. I see why they gravitate to us. Sometimes people wonder ‘should we dumb it down or do they get what we’re sayin’?’ but there’s people that catch on.

TSS: What inspired you to go to the mixtape route during your hiatus?

P: Basically man, it’s just been kinda therapeutic for us, y’know? We’ve been going through a lot with the label and it was takin’ away from the creativity of it all. Taking the fun away from it. We Got It For Cheap means many things but it doesn’t mean we didn’t make any money off the mixtape.

TSS: Okay. With the mixtapes, there’s a lot of other people who took that energy off of them and had their own interpretations of that flavor, that intensity. What’s your take on that?

P: It was so wack man…I mean, it was just wack. It frustrated us basically ‘cause we couldn’t even participate. It wasn’t even what they were doing, it was about us knowing where it came from, what they’re psychin’ the people out with and we just wanted to give ‘em the real.

TSS: What’s your process of creatin’ a track. I’d like you to break that down for me.

M: Aight, no problem. How it basically goes down is, Pharrell and Chad will come up with a beat. Sometimes they’ll have a few beats for us to select from or we’ll just show up and Pharrell will work on it with us there, then we’ll listen to it. Everybody’ll work on the hook, they’re hook masters. Then Pusha will go off into his own world; I’ll go off into mine. We don’t write in the studio.

TSS: Alright.

M: Then between us, we get the beat, live with it then depending on what the track calls for, you work with it. That’s what you gotta do. But for our album we got the beat, lived with it and pretty much play phone tage and let each other know where we’re going with the song.

TSS: Cool, cool. As far as production are there any other producers that y’all would want to get down with?

P: We like Timbaland. Dre. Just where it’s hot at man, just whoever got good music

TSS: Basically whatever’s poppin’.

P: Yeah man, whatever’s poppin’.

TSS: As far as your lyrics, with all of that intensity, do you ever feel like you’re boggin’ people down or are you givin’ people more stuff to come back to over and over again?

M: Uh, I don’t know. Are we boggin’ people down? I haven’t heard that one yet. I hope not.(laughs) This is just real shit man, we’re just documenting it. This is how we talk, this is who we are, this is our music, y’know? We hope people can relate.

TSS: What do you have next after this?

P: We’re tryin’ to get this tour in January with Young Jeezy. That’s In the works right now. Also, we got Hell Hath No Fury the movie musical. We’re tryin’ to put that in the same vein as “Streets is Watchin‘”. Getting Re-Up Records off the ground and put out Ab-Liva and Sandman.

TSS: Well, I’m pretty much done man, thanks a lot.. I hope everything was cool, hope I didn’t cross the line or nothin’…

P: Nah, you crossed the line a few times man. You kept crossin’ the line man, we’re pissed off.

TSS: Oh word?

P: (pause) Just fuckin’ with ya. (laughs) We appreciate it man. Thank you.

Hell Hath No Fury hits stores on 11.28.06. Cop that.

For more on Clipse, visit www.myspace.com/Clipse,www.VAClipse.com or their Jive Records page, www.clipseonline.com.

Be sure to check our previous Smoking Sessions.

Posted in "Fifteen Minutes With...", ARTIST INTERVIEWS, GENERAL