Pitchfork

In a move that should put an end to much of the drama surrounding their recorded output, Clipse have left Jive Records and the Neptunes' Star Trak Entertainment for a five-year deal with Columbia Records, according to Billboard.com.

Clipse's new 50/50 profit sharing arrangement with Columbia for their Re-Up Gang Records also includes ownership of all Re-Up Gang master tapes, including those of Re-Up members Ab Liva and Sandman. Both a new Clipse record and a Re-Up Gang posse disc are due in 2008, though unlike Clipse's two previous albums, the new one won't be produced in full by the Neptunes. Billboard.com reports that Pusha and Malice hope to work with Timbaland, Timbaland cohort Danjahandz, and Dame Grease on the disc.

As anyone who heard Hell Hath No Fury is painfully aware, Clipse's relationships with their various labels have often been a bit strained. Billboard.com explains the convoluted history: They began the decade with Star Trak, distributed at that point by Arista. Arista underwent drastic restructuring in 2004, its artists split between J and Jive. Star Trak was snapped up by Interscope, however. Despite Clipse's attempts to break their four-album deal with Jive and move with the Neptunes-run label to Interscope, Jive refused. A lawsuit between the group and the label was eventually settled, and Jive picked up a distribution deal for the group's Re-Up Gang Records catalog, yet famously continued to move the release of Hell Hath No Fury around until it finally emerged last fall.

Of Clipse's relationship with the Neptunes, Malice told Billboard, "I can honestly say that we were all friends before the music and will be friends to the end. Everything is business. If we had our way, we would always be on Star Trak. But it's what's working for you and what's not. We just want good energy, and Columbia has both the urgency and the muscle."