Clipping - Splendor & Misery (Anniversary X) [2LP Silver]

Clipping's Splendor & Misery returns for its tenth anniversary as Anniversary X, an expanded 2LP edition on silver vinyl, due in 2026, that pairs the original album with eight previously unreleased songs and alternate takes.

First released in 2016, the album is a science fiction story told through rap and noise. Daveed Diggs, William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes follow the sole survivor of a slave uprising aboard an interstellar cargo ship, and the onboard computer that falls in love with him. It earned a Hugo Award nomination, a rare honour for a rap record, and has become a touchstone of Afrofuturist music.

The Breach sets the scene with cold, mechanical tension, and Air 'Em Out is all propulsion, Diggs racing through dense verses over percussion that sounds like machinery under strain. Baby Don't Sleep builds its unease from near silence, and Story 5 adds a haunting, choral weight to the tale. Throughout, the production imagines music hidden inside the ship itself, its hull and instrument panels turned into sound.

The bonus material opens new angles on that world, including demos and instrumental versions.

A decade on, it still sounds like little else in hip hop, and this edition gives it the anniversary treatment it deserves.