Clipse’s street-corner storytelling

Clipse

“Hell Hath No Fury” (Jive / Zomba)

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Virginia’s Clipse didn’t invent crack rap but the group has become its patron saint. Cocaine-inspired themes are almost as old as hip-hop itself, but on the Clipse’s 2002 debut, “Lord Willin’,” rappers Pusha T and Malice eschewed cautionary tales of crack despair in favor of cartoonish decadence inspired by the “Miami Vice” era. Their outrageous swagger has influenced younger rappers to powder up their own personas, including Atlanta’s Young Jeezy and New Orleans’ Lil’ Wayne.

Like “Lord Willin’,” “Hell Hath No Fury” (in stores Tuesday) is exclusively produced by the Neptunes. In contrast to the gleaming club rhythms the group has crafted for Gwen Stefani and Usher, the Neptunes keep the sound stark on “Hell Hath No Fury.”

“Mr. Me Too” hisses along with a menacing, mechanical tempo, while “Ride Around Shining” transforms a simple harp arpeggio into a dark, noir-ish score. Similarly, Pusha and Malice’s clipped flows are simple but effective, packing clever punch lines in tight, tidy stanzas, as in “Ride Around Shining”: “The Black Martha Stewart / let me show you how to do it / break pies to pieces / make cocaine quiches.” Docu-realism it’s not, but as fiction, the Clipse’s storytelling is ostentatiously entertaining.

With only 12 songs, “Hell Hath No Fury’s” brusque brevity is a welcome contrast to other artists’ 70-plus-minute marathons. There’s a cold efficiency in how the Clipse delivers songs built on street-corner cockiness and billfold bluster. It’s all shamelessly amoral, but the Clipse wouldn’t be such savvy hustlers if they didn’t know how to sling with style.

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