As far as pushing the boundaries go, in my opinion, there’s only one other group that really meets the same level of chaos and line stepping as these guys do, and that’s ’Death Grips.’ Otherwise, Clipse are and have been for years on the forefront of innovation and creativity, and now they are back, so let’s talk about it!
This is the brand-new, highly anticipated 2025 release by Clipping. Featuring 20 songs with 53 minutes. Featuring the usual team:
-Daveed Diggs
-William Hutson
-Jonathan Snipes
They used the song ‘Run It’ as their lead single of this album, and it sounded like a late 80’s club song that’s been chaotically mixed and altered. I added it to my playlist the day of. Upon the full album release, I think I can say with some confidence that this is probably their most ‘electronic’ heavy album yet!
Similar to how ‘The Money Store’ is that same statement for Death Grips, so is the case for this one. Almost every song has various elements of electronic inspiration and samples ranging from:
-Techo/Rave/House/Drone/EDM and more
But of course, in true Clipping style, they formatted this record to have a level of ‘uneasy’ feel. Considering their past few albums were horror-based and before that, they did a larger-than-life concept album ‘Splendor & Misery’ about a man trapped in space who falls in love with the ship. Still considered my favourite concept album of all time periods.
Regardless, on this one, every track is so fucking groovy and infectious with the production that it makes you want to dance on the spot (something I thought I’d never say about a Clipping album), but it’s true.
As per usual, they have their use of:
-Distortion
-Noise
-Reverb
-Static as use of modifying the songs to give them that ‘creepy and unsettling’ texture, and for those who are already long-term fans, it will be like background noise to you, but for new fans, it might throw you off guard, but regardless, it’s classic Clipping.
On this album, there are features from:
-Nels Cline
-Tia Nomore
-Cartel Madras
-Aesop Rock
The most exciting names for me are definitely underground lyrical legend Aesop, who as usual flaunts his ridiculous vocabulary on the track and gives us his trademark style.
Overall, this is one of the few long albums out this year that I fuck with from start to finish. Every new album by Clipping provides more ideas and more ways to exhibit the extreme spectrums in music and what ‘hip hop’ can or should sound like. If you want to challenge yourself, then this is the perfect start!
https://open.spotify.com/album/2AkszlufP2t2ZHfC8NKKvN?si=fvKzUEgyRFGMhYsPtRV1lA
The Serpent Tongue Reviews 