Monday, November 28 marked the 16th anniversary of Clipse’s Hell Hath No Fury. Serving as the duo’s second release on Pharrell’s now-defunct Star Trak label, HHNF is widely considered a Hip-Hop classic. For that very reason, everyone from music journalists to high-profile rappers set aside some time to reflect on HHNF’s legacy earlier this week.
For instance, Tyler, The Creator — who is a well-documented Neptunes fan — acknowledged his appreciation for the album on Twitter. “Important,” he tweeted. “life for me is before and after i seen this video in 06. NOTHING compares.”
In response to Tyler’s thoughts on the album, Fakeshore Drive’s Andrew Barber offered a fascinating reply. Barber shared a screenshot of an archived Pusha T interview, which reminded fans of Hell Hath No Fury’s ties to Jay-Z.
Pusha T once explained the uncanny connection between Hell Hath No Fury and Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come.
According to Pusha T’s 2011 Complex interview, Clipse’s revered third studio album was originally in Jay-Z’s hands. In fact, the It’s Almost Dry artist confirmed the production for Hell Hath No Fury was meant for Kingdom Come. Although Clipse’s album dropped a week after Jay-Z’s infamous comeback album, the records were more intertwined than fans initially realized.
"Hell Hath No Fury was actually a Jay-Z album, Pharrell had originally made all those records for Jay-Z’s Kingdom Come,” Pusha T said. “I got wind of all these records and for whatever reason the deal wasn’t solidified. Then whatever was going down and whatever red tape happens during albums, Jay-Z picks other beats. And we ended up getting it back.”
"There was quite a few of [those beats meant for Jay]," he continued. "It was like, ‘Momma I’m So Sorry,’ ‘Riding Around Shining,’ ‘We Got It For Cheap,’ ‘Chinese New Year.’ An amazing portion of the album were Jay-Z beats."
Furthermore, Pusha T has continued to discuss the connection between Hell Hath No Fury and Kingdom Come in recent years. In a 2018 interview with Complex, Pusha T even admitted to treating the projects as companion albums.
“You have to remember that Kingdom Come came out the same year as Hell Hath No Fury. So me, being the competitor, I always used to A and B them joints, ’cause you know there’s no album better than Hell Hath No Fury,” Push explained. “So discovering the gems on Kingdom Come was like, I had to. Man, I definitely lived with that album and was very, very meticulous in thumbing through it when it first dropped.”
Were you already aware of the connection between Clipse’s HHNF and Hov’s Kingdom Come? If not, let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
