For the Neptunes, before there was Jay-Z, Mystikal and Justin Timberlake, there was the Clipse. According to Terrence "Pusha T" Thornton of the Clipse, he and his brother were the original rhymers on many of the Neptunes' most famous beats. "When people weren't taking the Neptunes seriously," he says, "we were on all of those tracks. And here they are years later, selling the same beats!"

You can hear the special relationship between the Clipse and the Neptunes on "Grindin'," a brittle, electro-funking track that's the best thing the producers have done all year. On the strength of that single, the duo's debut album, Lord Willin', entered the charts at Number Four.

Terrence and his older brother Gene "Malice" Thornton met the Neptunes' Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo in 1993 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Gene and Terrence were the cool kids who had moved from the Bronx when they were young. They were known for bringing the latest fashions down from New York. "We were the first to get those Run-D.M.C. Adidas tracksuits," says Terrence. "Shell toes, Kangols," says Gene, "all of that stuff. I was the star of the show in Virginia."

Gene was a fixture on the city's boardwalk, the strip on the beach where would-be rappers gathered in circles and rhymed; Terrence and Williams of the Neptunes shared the same barber ("the cool barber," says Terrence).

The Clipse signed with Elektra in 1999, but despite an underground hit with the single "The Funeral," the deal eventually went south. According to Gene, the dark period that followed accounts for the drug-dealing rhymes on the album. Almost every song has something about street corners and white powder. "Ninety-five percent of that is autobiographical," Gene says. "A lot of it was written right after the Elektra deal. We were introduced to some quick money, and then we let it go. You're exposed to something, and now you need money to keep it up."

Gene is determined that it won't come to that again, even if it takes working with Justin Timberlake, whom the Clipse performed with on the MTV Video Music Awards. "I'd rather look funny and win," Gene says. "And I'm not going to be in this game and not win."

[From Issue 1015 — December 14, 2006]