This time last year, the Clipse complained to anyone who’d listen how unhappy it was on Jive Records. Now, the act’s wish to leave has been granted. Sibling MCs Malice and Pusha T have ended their deal with Jive and the Neptunes’ Star Trak Entertainment in favor of a new arrangement with Columbia, Billboard has learned.

The Clipse emerged early this decade on Star Trak, which at the time was distributed by Arista. The duo’s 2002 debut, “Lord Willin’,” was a critical and commercial smash, and has sold 948,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

When Arista was restructured in 2004, the label’s artists were split between J and Jive. But Star Trak joined Interscope, leaving the Clipse behind at Jive. The act lobbied to be allowed to follow Star Trak to its new home, but Jive refused, resulting in a lawsuit that sought to break the Clipse’s four-album deal (Jive had no comment at deadline).

- Billboard.com