clipping.

Experimental hip-hop trio clipping. merged intricate rap cadences with harsh sonic textures, pushing production methods into territories seldom visited by the genre. The outfit reinvented its approach across nearly every later project yet retained an underlying commitment to daring experimentation and confrontational spirit, whether on limited-run cassette issues or broader releases such as the 2020 Sub Pop album Visions of Bodies Being Burned.

Producers Jonathan Snipes of Captain Ahab and William Hutson of Rale launched clipping. in 2009. At first the project took shape through remixes that layered vocals from existing a cappella versions of mainstream hip-hop tracks over newly created beats built from noise and industrial sources. The abrasive character deepened the following year when longtime friend and rapper Daveed Diggs, also of True Neutral Crew, joined the lineup and locked in the group’s singular identity. After several obscure early releases, the debut album Midcity appeared in February 2013 as a digital-only drop without label support or marketing. Its originality quickly secured a Sub Pop contract, resulting in the 2014 follow-up CLPPNG, which included guest verses from ex-Three 6 Mafia MC Gangsta Boo, King T, Guce, and others. The group toured in support with Busdriver and Milo.

In 2015 Diggs originated the roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the off-Broadway production of Hamilton and reprised them when the show moved to Broadway. Hamilton earned 11 Tony Awards, the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and a Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. Diggs exited the Broadway cast in summer 2016.

Activity resumed that summer with the Wriggle EP—whose title track sampled Whitehouse and featured Antwon, Signor Benedick the Moor, and Cakes da Killa—alongside the full-length Splendor & Misery, both issued on Sub Pop. In 2017 the single “The Deep” arrived, a futuristic electro-rap piece whose aquatic production recalled Drexciya. The next year the group appeared on a highly limited split 7" with Metz, while the 2012 cassette release was reissued as Face. That expanded edition added three tracks from the original cassingle plus remixes of “Face” by Duran Duran Duran, JPEGMAFIA, and FLANCH.

There Existed an Addiction to Blood, a 2019 album shaped by horrorcore traditions and John Carpenter’s film scores, followed. In 2020 the trio compiled recordings from its 2017 tour opening for the Flaming Lips into Double Live, an unconventional document assembled from hidden microphones, venue bathrooms, and other non-musical sources rather than standard concert tapes. Later that year clipping. extended its horrorcore explorations with the studio album Visions of Bodies Being Burned, again centering on grim tales of murder, paranoia, and dread drawn from classic horror films and the members’ own imaginations.