More than a decade since their last project, Clipse has confirmed that new music is on the way with the help of Pharrell Williams.
The brother rap duo, composed of Pusha T and No Malice, spoke to Vulture about their forthcoming album, which will be their first since 2009's Til the Casket Drops. The announcement marks their return after a hiatus due to No Malice's departure from Clipse and Pusha T's pursuit of solo ventures. Now reunited, No Malice told Vulture that their new work demonstrates "the supreme maturation of a rap duo."
"I think this is where you get the difference between taste and filler. This music is curated. This is a high taste-level piece of work," he told the outlet. "You can only have that level of taste when you have the fundamentals down to a science. I think it’s been definitely missing. Then there’s the competitive aspect."
For the group to lock in, they recruited their longtime collaborator, Williams, who will produce the album entirely, sans Chad Hugo, one-half of The Neptunes. The production duo, who worked on all four of Clipse's albums, is currently in a legal dispute over the 'Neptunes' trademark, per Billboard.
"Outside of Pharrell producing everything, I don’t want to say who the features are," Push told Vulture.
"Pharrell producing everything is also an ode to the type of music and the type of albums we want to make," he continued. "We still want to make full bodies of work. These are movies, man. These aren’t just songs. This isn’t just a collection of joints we went in and banged out."
With the brothers adding that the album is "tedious" and "coehesive," Pusha continued, "This is arguing. This is a problem. These are people passionate about their opinions and making sure that everybody’s on their A-game."
As for Williams' and Hugo's legal drama, Push insisted that the group didn't work with the latter on their new record, and that he's "not even that familiar" with the lawsuit, despite commenting on it in April. Push also hinted at the possiblity of appearing in Williams' LEGO-animated movie, which debuts in October, although he hasn't seen an early screener.
