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Clipse's Pusha T Pushes Back After Album Is Delayed -- Again

'Once we get on the court, we're gonna win,' rapper says of December's 'Hell Hath No Fury.'

Apparently it was just one of those days for Pusha T, one-half of rap duo the Clipse.

Already frustrated by a number of complications with the group's record company -- dating back to 2004 when its original label, Arista, folded -- the rapper figured everything was finally on track for the Clipse's long-delayed sophomore project, Hell Hath No Fury.

The album was scheduled for a Halloween release (see [article id="1537338"]"Hell Hath No Fury Like Long-Awaited Clipse LP Slated For Halloween"[/article]). Pusha T thought that was a fitting date, since the ghoulish day seemed to match the group's grim outlook. But while preparing for a Rolling Stone interview recently, Pusha received a call that the album would be pushed back again, this time until December 5. He finally had enough with the delays.

"I hate Jive with all my heart and all the passion and my soul," he told the magazine.

"When I say things, I'm speaking from the emotional side of an artist," Pusha told MTV News on Monday from Miami, where the Clipse are filming their next video. "We do street rap where we feel that everything is dictated from the streets. And the hype and the buzz that you garner is something that can't be taken away from you. The record label, all they have to go by is what reads on paper. So it's like, as far as the Rolling Stone issue goes, it was a situation where it was a rough day. And I feel like my core audience -- the people who kept us relevant for all these years and the time on hiatus -- is waiting. So, you know, for them to say that sh-- was pushed back, I was upset and I spazzed out."

The much-anticipated album is slated to receive a classic rating in the forthcoming November issue of rap magazine XXL (due on newsstands October 3). Pusha said the critical acclaim was rewarding, but he revealed his frustration with not being able to capitalize on the expectations by having their album on shelves. Pusha and his brother, Malice, have made no secret of their displeasure with Jive Records.

But Pusha admitted that, surprisingly, the label has been very supportive of the group and its project. He said the label's intentions were good and conversations between the Clipse and Jive have been very cordial. The execution after the conversations, however, has been a sticking point, according to Pusha.

"Jive hasn't denied us much, not really anything that we've asked for," the rapper said. "But the time frame in which they do things sort of f---s up the situation. They'll do it, they just do it a little late.

"In all fairness, it has to be hard to put millions of dollars into a situation and to just go off what the streets is saying without any type of real gauge," Pusha continued. "But at the end of the day, record-label people are not in the streets like that. They don't know the kids are like, 'Yo, I got [the Clipse track] "Mr. Me Too." This dude be trying to be like me all day long.' It turns into a trust thing. You have to trust the artists sometimes."

Pusha T and Malice are in South Beach this week filming the video for "What It Do (Wamp, Wamp)," featuring Slim Thug. But all that occupies Pusha at the moment is getting his album on shelves.

"I ain't trying to start no campaign [for our release]," Pusha said. "All I'm trying to do is get this music out and make my fans happy. We want to carve our path in this industry. We're the best hip-hop duo in the game. I don't want to talk to record labels anymore, I just want to compete. I want to let people know what hip-hop is really supposed to be about. That's all I'm trying to do. That's it. Once we get on the court, we're gonna win."

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