Fun Fun Fun Fest Artist Profiles: Clipse and Dengue Fever

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Clipse at Fun Fun Fun Fest
Sunday, November 9
Waterloo Park (403 E. 15th)
Stage 4 | 8:45pm-9:45pm
[info] | [tickets]

Dengue Fever at Fun Fun Fun Fest
Saturday, November 8
Waterloo Park (403 E. 15th)
Stage 4 | 2pm-2:45pm
[info] | [tickets]

Angry, insular, and propelled by a stripped down Neptunes beat, “Virginia” is the only song on Clipse’s 2002 debut that approached the ferocity and grit of their hit “Grindin’.” Like pretty much all of their songs, “Virginia” is about drugs and posturing on the surface, but between the lines (no pun intended), Clipse depict struggles of class, race, and lifestyle. “Virginia” never topped any charts, but has long been the foundation of Clipse’s live show. This might hold true for the group’s Sunday set, or it very well could not. Rarely is a rap show as potentially telling, for while “Virginia” is where their roots are, literally and figuratively, it also epitomizes a period where Clipse were underground legends but glossed over in the mainstream and by their label. Now with a new home at Columbia and a forthcoming album produced, for the first time, by a bevy of top producers, Clipse looks to turn a page or two, and Sunday should show how much their past will be a part of their new look.