Okay, They're Reloaded

<p><strong>The Clipse's Malice talks new CD and new outlook on life</strong></p><p><em>A Rocky Williform Company</em></p><p>Malice, the elder of the bar-bashing brotherly bunch better known as The Clipse, is beaming from ear to ear. We can totally understand why he's smiling right now. He and his brother, Pusha, are in the most comfy of spots. Their recording situation with Columbia is nice. The Virginia natives are also on the eve of releasing another action-packed CD of street-approved antics and flashy-label braggadocio called Till The Casket Drops.</p><p>"Life is good," confirms Malice, who dropped Hell Hath No Fury with Pusha in late '06 to a critical reception few releases that year received. "Ain't nothing to complain about. Got God. Got my health. We out here. Me and my brother we together on the road, out here doing shows. It's rough out there so things could be a lot worse."</p><p>When Mal speaks of his accomplishments, his haters or his outside ventures, he's still all grins. Who can blame him? There's probably nothing anyone can say or do to get the former dope dealers off their natural high. And honestly, HHB is pretty geeked just to be around Malice for some of the contact buzz...</p><p><strong>I know you all have been traveling out west lately. What's the vibe in Cali?</strong></p><p>Enthusiasm. They're ready for us, every time, every place, every venue we been to. We have dedicated and loyal fans. We&lsquo;ve seen a swarm of new fans. Clipse fans are very passionate. It's feeling good out here.</p><p><strong>Define these fans for me.</strong><br />Most of the Clipse fans are hipsters. A lot of the street, a lot of college kids. Definitely our fans are fashion conscious, real fly, serious about their hip hop.</p><p><strong>In your eyes, who's serious about their hip hop right now. Who do you respect in the game?</strong><br />Honestly, I respect anybody who takes what they do and share it with the world and they prepare to be judged, criticized or even praised. To put something that you love or are passionate about and that's real and near and dear to you and have people comment on it takes a strong person. So, I respect anybody who shares their craft with the world.</p><p><strong>You all have definitely had your share of criticism over the years. How have you and your brother dealt with it?</strong><br />It's not a problem. It's really not a problem. We take it well. Reason being is because we're confident in what it is we do. I can even remember when we were shopping for deals with The Neptunes, before [our debut] <em>Lord Willin'</em> came out. When we played our music for people, if they didn't get it or they were uncertain about it, we thought that they were absolutely crazy. It's not like we went back home and started over, ya know, back to the drawing board and tried to do something different. We'd be like, "They were stupid. They didn&rsquo;t get it." That was very seldom the case. Most of the time people really took to what it was we were doing and saw that we were passionate about it. Basically what I'm saying is, you have to know who you are because, if you don't, criticism will conquer you and toss you around like clothes in a dryer. You gotta stand firm.</p><p><strong>Where have you seen the biggest improvements in The Clipse since <em>Lord Willin'</em>?</strong><br />I think we've become very accustomed to the business side of things, ever since the beginning, especially with all the label setbacks, if you can call them that. I count everything as a plus. Most people call them label setbacks. We learned how to take things upon ourselves and don't just sit back and wait for the label to motivate it or move ou