Clipse "Hell Hath No Fury"

Clipse "Hell Hath No Fury" (2006)
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mp3 / vbr kbps / 72mb / 41strip

Label: Re-up Gang / Star Trak
Projected release date: 28 November 2006
Producer: The Neptunes
Tracks: 12 (check: Amazon)

clipse hates jive. jive dont give a shit. "hell hath no fury" is now finally gettin dropped. the retail leak is here. and clipse is back. now that's outta the way lets talk about the album. clipse are good / crap lyrically etc etc (boring). you can google for an actual clipse review, coz i'm not gonna do that here. i'm goin straight to the productions on this one.

unless you've been following hiphop only through bbc news this year, you will know that this is one of the most anticipated all-neptunes-produced album in the industry in the past few days. ever since the hiphop-changing clipse/theneptunes track "grindin" a few years back, the birth and evolution of clipse and the neptunes have been on constant watch by the who's who as well as nobodies of hiphop today.

the thing about the neptunes that you have to understand first is that they have their good and bad days (albeit their production fees are relatively constant, regardless). and the subjectivity of this matter is what is driving the industry - in this case, in the direction of the neptunes, fortunately for them.

"hell hath no fury" sees the usual charmingly egoistic neptunes, with a few new mood twists (and directions?). now, the last recent work of this proportion is pharrell williams' "in my mind" record. personally, that felt to me like it's the attempt of neptunes (pharrell?) approaching near commercialism without actually having to collaborate with the more radio-friendly britney and justin - thus probably lessen the need for the productions to be commercial-compromised (too much). that said, "hell hath no fury" throws away that concept in its entirety. no easy listening here, boys and girls. not like jay-z's new one. not like snoop's new one. i get a feeling this has almost been expected in this record. "lord willin'" was not that, why should this be it. good logic.

with weird, yet signature grooves of the neptunes, like no effort at all the neptunes puts forward their darkest, most-experimental (as if the neptunes don't get 'experimental' on daily basis) hiphop beats. these are the collection of instrumentals not for the faint hearted - reserved only for within the radius of neptunes' fans, music production appreciators and beats connoisseurs, making the neptunes today indeed, the producers' producers - but nothing more. though, this very credibility, as proven throughout the years, is sufficient enough for the neptunes duo to (continue to) dictate an impressive high-end production fee charge. but then again, it's never about the money. of course.

all the necessary unquantised hi-hats, dark synth melodies and of course cheesy preset patches (bagpipe? and pseudo saxophone?! and near-generalMidi samples?!!) are present on this record, this time with more-than-the-usual-dosage of percussions come into play - an attempt that the neptunes would have to take the effort to do, but timbaland does in his sleep, but i digress.

if you look for it, you could almost hear the pre "in my mind" sounds, as well as never-heard-before neptunes in there (maybe even may never be heard again outside the clipse scope). i say this because you almost get this sense of the neptunes always seem to be using clipse records as a nuclear testing ground for their other production techniques and methods. clipse dont care, the neptunes have their own army of diehard fans.

to many producers, hiphop or outside hiphop (duran duran, dj teebee, rjd2 all are known to have mentioned their respect for that neptunes sound in various interviews), this record, like "in my mind" will surely be on their shelf along with their other music production 101 manuals of what to do, as well as what NOT to do, in the case of some tracks on this record.

i find myself having trouble classifying the productions this record as either a neptunes classic or the neptunes' bad day at the office (which i'm sure mr williams and mr hugo will choose to be oblivious to because they know how good they are - the very charm that makes that neptunes sound). nonetheless, clipse fan will love clipse, neptunes fans will love neptunes - it's the rest of the crowd that should worry the people at jive records.

as a producer, after listening to "hell hath no fury" i still cant decide if the neptunes are mad, or geniuses, or mad geniuses.