Clipse

After a forced hiatus ? and the hottest mixtape release of 2005 ? the critically acclaimed, Neptunes-produced duo returns stronger and darker than ever before.

You already know Clipse?s 2002 debut, Lord Willin?. It?s the album that spawned "Grindin," a thundering, instant classic of gangsta minimalism that stormed the pop charts and ushered in a new era of spare, hammering hip-hop. It?s the album that spawned ?When the Last Time,? which proved Clipse?s hard-edged sonics and slick punchlines could storm the clubs, too. It?s the album that the Neptunes produced from top to bottom. It?s the album that sold well over 1 million copies. It?s the album that rocked heads from Justin Timberlake, who put Clipse on his breakout solo single ?Like I Love You,? to Diddy, who handpicked the brothers for the star-studded Notorious B.I.G. Duets album.

Not all hiatuses come to an end, but this one finally has. Clipse are back like the rap Terence Malick ? time hasn?t beaten them down or fattened them up, it?s just honed their meticulous craft, broadened their vision and pissed them off. They?re better ? and angrier ? than ever, and Hell Hath No Fury, produced entirely by the Neptunes and released through Clipse?s brand new imprint, Re-Up Gang records, is powerful proof. This is a dark, cavernous album. Like Sin City, it?s all blacks and grays, with occasional flurries of white and splatters of red. It?s shorn almost entirely of melody, void of syrupy R&B hooks and rhymes about Laffy Taffy. And it features exactly zero ladies? jams, unless you count the songs Pusha classifies as ?hard bitch records.?

The first single, ?Mr. Me Too,? featuring Pharrell, sets the ominous tone: it?s already knocking, oozing, slicing and slithering its way up the charts. In his verse, Pusha addresses Clipse?s forced vacation: ?Been two years like I was paddywagon cruisin?/ The streets was yours, you dunce cappin? and kazooin?.?

Hell Hath No Fury strikes a brilliant balance between futurism and nostalgia. It?s an album of lyrics-driven hip-hop in the spirit of east coast rap?s early ?90s heyday, but it?s also powered by the noisiest, meanest, most space-age production the Neptunes have ever served up. ?We made Pharrell go into the dungeon for this one,? Pusha says, adding, ?We?re trying to make that album where you fall into a movie. Just like you fell into the Wu Tang movie, just like you fell into the Mobb Deep movie, just like you fell into the Gang Starr movie.?

Take ?Nightmares,? which complicates a woozy, narcotic beat with tales of drug dealer paranoia ? it?s a song in the same fraught spirit as the Geto Boys? ?Mind Playing Tricks On Me.? Or the raucous ?Mama I?m So Sorry,? in which Pharrell makes a synthesized accordion sound tough and Malice and Pusha aren?t sure whether they should apologize for their greed or celebrate it, describing a lifestyle full of ?Ferraris and Salvador Dalis.?

Along the way, Clipse find room for the sort of brags and punch lines that win street corner battles. On ?Ain?t Cha,? Pusha calls his closet ?Planet of the BAPES? and Malice chuckles about his ?Gucci parka, from France where the kids sing ?Frere Jacques.?? On the chittering, Mantronix-vibed ?Ride Around Shinin,?? Pusha even compares his crack-cooking skills to the culinary gifts of an unlikely criminal: ?The black Martha Stewart, let me show you how to do it.?

One thing listeners won?t hear on Hell Hath No Fury is an endless parade of skits or guests. Aside from the Re-Up Gang and Star Trak family ? like Pharrell and Rosco P. Coldchain (who appears on the pyrotechnic ode to armed home robbery, ?Chinese New Year?) the only guests are Slim Thug, who drops in on second single ?Wamp Wamp (What It Do),? and Bilal, who lends his smoky croon to ?Nightmares.?