After spending years in career limbo while fighting endlessly with their uncooperative record label, The Clipse were able to beat the odds and resurrect their careers after forming The Re-Up Gang and releasing a grip of critically acclaimed mixtapes which reignited their once strong buzz. From there, things finally started to look up. They were able to leave Jive and drop their long delayed 2nd studio album which opened the door for Pusha & Malice to take it a step further and sign a major deal with Rick Rubin over at Columbia Records. The deal also was supposed to secure distribution for the rumored Re-Up Gang album and solo projects for Sandman & Ab-Liva. So with all the pieces then in place, the whole crew was poised to begin their official comeback...Or so it seemed.
Somehow things began to turn sour and 2008 has not treated The Re-Up Gang very well at all. First, "We Got It 4 Cheap 3" wasn't received nearly as well as the first 2 installments, next there was a falling out between The Clipse & longtime collaborators The Neptunes and if that wasn't bad enough...The Re-Up Gang album was an enormous letdown as it featured 90% rehashed tracks which outraged their rabid internet fanbase. Once it was released, it was revealed that the whole project was fucked up as Columbia pulled the budget forcing the crew to basically scrap almost all of the recorded sessions and instead rely on low budget producers to remix old material only to have it drop on KOCH. As if things couldn't get any worse, Sandman then called out the crew & label for the fuck-up and decided to quit, leaving The Clipse & Ab-Liva to fall back & cancel their promotional tour.
So all-in-all, these guys are back in a familiar spot with their backs to the wall and are focused yet again & ready to hopefully put their bad luck once again behind them. So their first matter of business is to team up with Complex agazine and release a new mixtape "Road To 'Til The Casket Drop's" which will coincide with the release of their new clothing line "Play Cloths" later this month. The mixtape is their first in over a year and will drop as a free download at Complex.com on December 1st. The tape is expected to feature music from their debut album on Columbia "Til The Casket Drops" which is currently 90% complete and slated for a release in March '09. You can download the tape's intro and check the cover art below...
The Clipse - Road To Til The Casket Drops (Intr0)
For more info on the tape & the "Play Cloths" line click here.
Posted By: JV
