Hip HopRandom

The Tens: 10 Delayed Hip Hop Albums And If They Were Worth The Wait

blame it on Meka February 17, 2011

With Saigon finally dropping his debut album, the good folks at TWV look at some other albums that got the Detox treatment. Wait, the was a 4 Horsemen project actually dropped?

8.) Clipse, Hell Hath No Fury
Scheduled Release Date: 2004

Clipse‘s debut, Lord Willin’ earned a gold plaque from the hit single “Grindin,” but their follow-up Hell Hath No Fury suffered from a series of delays. Once the group’s home of Arista Records dissolved into Jive Records—a successful pop and R&B spot, but a label infamous for mishandling of rap acts like Mystikal and Mobb Deep—then Clipse was S.O.L. for the next couple of years. While Clipse’s We Got It 4 Cheap mixtape series with Re-Up Gang helped hold fans over, Hell Hath No Fury took so long that the duo sued Jive for the numerous delays. On HHNF’s single “Mr. Me Too,” Pusha T famously says, “These are the days of our lives, and I’m sorry to the fans, but them crackas wasn’t playin’ fair at Jive.”

Official Release Date: November 28, 2006

As far as sales and Billboard success go, Hell Hath No Fury didn’t reinvent the wheel: it topped out at 14 in the US Billboard 200, 2 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and it didn’t meet any RIAA gold or platinum certifications. But the combo of The Neptunes‘ minimalistic backdrops and Pusha T and Malice‘s sharp, cold-hearted rhymes fueled the album to receive their most critical acclaim to date, garnering a classic rating in XXL magazine and not much lower scores in other publications.

READ: The Tens: 10 Delayed Hip Hop Albums And If They Were Worth The Wait