After years of bitter legal wrangling, the long-awaited second album from rap duo the Clipse, “Hell Hath No Fury,” will finally arrive this week via Jive. The track “Mr. Me Too” featuring Pharrell has been garnering radio airplay since late spring but fell off Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in September, after peaking at No. 65.
The Clipse sued Jive to break its four-album contract, citing lack of promotion, and hoped to exit the label for Star Trak, the Neptunes’ imprint. But the group says Zomba chairman/CEO and Jive president Barry Weiss refused to allow the Clipse to split. The contractual struggle was eventually settled with a label distribution deal for the pair’s Re-Up Gang Records.
“It got to the point where we were talking to the lawyers every day,” group member Pusha T says. “It was so stressful, it’d be like, ‘I didn’t even open my rap book today.'”
“The album’s limbo was through no fault of our own,” group member Malice adds. “The battle was between Star Trak and Jive, and we were caught in the middle. And we had to wait until they settled it. And when you’re suing somebody, every step of paperwork takes six months. And before you know it, years have gone. Who wants that?”
