Makin' cocaine quiches

I had just started to pull together my "Best Albums" list and then Clipse's sophomore album Hell Hath No Fury shows up out of the blue to throw a wrench in the process... and by process I mean going back and listening to everything I'd earmarked every new release Tuesday, a task so large I'd probably need help from the 'Black Martha Stewart.'

Album: Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury

Oh, I'd heard the advance singles "Mr Me Too" and "Wamp Wamp (What It Do)" but neither gave indication of the depths that The Neptunes plunged for sounds in their production. Just listen to the chilling dense bass wall in "Trill" and the creepy piano string strum in "Ride Around Shining" - which features the lyrics:

The Black Martha Stewart / let me show you how to do it / break pies to pieces / make cocaine quiches.

The most welcoming track is "Dirty Money," which follows the brothers Pusha T and Malice as they spend their drug money on bling for their ladies. Luckily they saved some of that bling for Pharrell and The Neptunes to sprinkle throughout the album, as there's plenty here that shines.

Regardless of all the praise, though, Ghostface Killah's Fishscales is still my hip-hop album of the year.

tags: album review, music, rhapsody, hip-hop, rap, clipse, neptunes, pharell