Clipse are paving a ‘new frontier’ in rap with ‘Let God Sort Em Out’

No one really thought Clipse would get back together.

The duo, composed of brothers Pusha T and Malice, is well known for setting a new precedent for rap throughout the aughts. If you wipe the dust off and think back, you’ll probably remember them for hits like “Grindin’” or “When the Last Time,” both produced by the Neptunes — another duo, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo — and both off of their debut, “Lord Willin’.”

At the surface level, Clipse was an insanely talented rap duo out of Virginia Beach, Va., closely linked to Pharrell, who would go on to be one of hip-hop’s most in-demand producers.

“I had just turned 8 when we moved from New York to Virginia,” Malice remembers. “I think it was a bit of a culture shock for me… I remember thinking how the people in Virginia just talked different.”

But the brothers, born Gene and Terrence Thornton, quickly noticed that a lot was happening around them. Malice remembers when they used to “congregate down at the ocean front” and freestyle: “everybody would come out there.”

It wasn’t long before they “bumped heads” with Pharrell, who was a friend of a friend.

“I had heard about Pharrell and he had heard about me,” Malice says. “One day, Pusha decided he wanted to rap on a song… it was called ‘A Thief in the Night.’”

“Pharrell was like, ‘Y’all should be a group.’ And we agreed, and it was easy… it all came together in Chad’s room in his attic.”

But their first brush with fame came even earlier than their debut, with the release of “The Funeral.” At the time, the brothers had struck a deal with Elektra Records with some help from Pharrell, but the company ultimately shelved their would-be debut “Exclusive Audio Footage,” which contained the song.

Clipse were released from their contract shortly after, but the project would live on through the love of fans — or, “family,” they say.

“For me, we were superstars when we shot ‘The Funeral’ video in ‘99 in Virginia… I mean, that was it; what else was there to do?” Pusha said. “The video debuted on HBO, and we shot it at home. For me, that was the Grammys.”

“That was the mountaintop,” Malice chimed in.

“That was the mountaintop!” Pusha echoed.

Those early Clipse days were special, and the duo saw themselves at the center of a cultural shift and as a driving force in the rap game at the time. And Virginia, oddly enough, is where it was all happening.

It had a lot to do with Teddy Riley — the father of New Jack Swing — who set up camp in Virginia Beach along with his Future Recording Studios. That became a hub in the ‘90s for established artists like Luther Vandross and Whitney Houston as well as rising stars like Timbaland and the Neptunes.

“It was a time of creativity,” Pusha said. “Whether it was Pharrell and Chad up the street or my brother working with Timbaland in junior high school … the energy of Virginia was at an all-time high.”

“A lot of people in Virginia are very creative and aspire to make something out of this music thing,” Malice added. “And I think what we’ve done is show them that it is very tangible and doable and reachable.”

But it would all come to an end in 2010, when Pusha T and Malice went their separate ways. Albeit an amicable split, it was still abrupt, with the latter experiencing a spiritual reawakening that set a hard contrast to the drug-dealing-infused lyrics that often occupied their music.

It was certainly a shock to fans, but both would remain close. According to Malice, it had a lot to do with the lessons their parents bestowed upon them.

“The way our parents raised us, that family is absolutely everything … there is no bickering, there is no animosity,” he said. “My dad was really big on family, and not only family, but brotherhood. And I don’t even mean like, just biological brotherhood. I mean brotherhood and all that it entails.”

“We always used to say in the earlier Clipse days, ‘want for your brother what you want for yourself,’ and it’s something that we hang on to with both hands,” he added.

So, the door always remained open for a Clipse reunion. And there were hints.

They appeared on longtime collaborator Kanye West’s “Jesus Is King” in 2019, and Pusha T’s solo album “It’s Almost Dry” boasted an impressive Malice feature on track “I Pray for You” in 2022. On the latter, Malice is back, seemingly as if he never left the game:

“When I was in the mix / opened up your nose like I’m cuttin’ it with Vicks / Slavin’ over stoves like I rub together sticks / Paved another road so my soul would coexist / But Heaven only knows, I won’t dig another ditch.”

Malice made a rare guest appearance on Pusha T’s fourth studio album, “It’s Almost Dry,” in 2022.

(Cian Moore)

According to him, there were “quite a few baby steps involved” before an all-out Clipse project was underway. But an enlightening conversation with his father, who died in 2022, made it “make sense for my psyche.”

“One of the last conversations I had with my dad, I asked him what he thought about me rapping again. And why that was important to me was because my dad was definitely in a church. He was a deacon,” he recalls. “And just to hear him say that he thought that I had been too hard on myself, I didn’t even expect him to say anything remotely along those lines.”

“And he was like, ‘You know what to do now.’”

It took Clipse around two years to complete “Let God Sort Em Out,” befittingly, entirely produced by Pharrell. Its rollout led with “Ace Trumpets” and the infatuating “So Be It.” The latter track ingeniously flips an obscure sample of “Maza Akoulo” by Saudi Arabian musician Talal Maddah. Notably, it also takes aim at artist Travis Scott over his alleged disloyalty.

It highlights an ongoing dissatisfaction that the brothers have with the current state of rap, an overall landscape that they say is “flawed.”

“We were coming to set standard and reset the table,” Pusha says.

“We had many opportunities to come back and do something, but it just wasn’t the right time,” Malice adds. “Money’s not going to dictate anything we do. We don’t ever compromise our art for anything. Whatever we do is going to be done at the highest level, and it’s going to feel right.”

It was no surprise that the album featured verses from the West Coast’s Kendrick Lamar and Tyler, the Creator, who are some of the best wordsmiths out right now.

On “Chains and Whips,” Pusha T opens up lethally: “The question marks block your blessings / There’s no tombstones in the desert / I know by now you get the message.”

Malice follows suit, assuring “Your lucky streak is now losing you / Money’s dried up like a cuticle / You’re gasping for air now, it’s beautiful.”

[Warning: Video contains profanity.]

Lamar is a real stand out on the album, and it’s no surprise. Last year, he tore apart Canadian rapper Drake across four diss tracks, which hit its peak with “Not Like Us.” The track ended up hitting 1 billion streams in January 2025, won five Grammy Awards, and broke the internet with its performance at the Super Bowl.

Needless to say, the Compton-born rapper and longtime friend of Pusha T has been on a roll.

“Let’s be clear, hip-hop died again / Half of my profits might go to Rakim / How many Judases that let me down? / But f— it, the West mines, we right now / Therapy showed me how to open up / It also showed me I don’t give a f—.”

Of the collaboration, Malice says “when it comes to Kendrick, I think we are of the same mindset of how important the culture is and that we keep it in existence.”

Indeed, this is something that Clipse have always maintained and they’ve taken issue with in contemporary rap. Especially given the longevity they have — Malice and Pusha T have been in the game since the early ‘90s and are 53 and 48 years old, respectively.

“I don’t think people have been in the game this long and competed at this level, you know?” Pusha says. “I think it’s a new frontier. We’re at a point of really cracking the ceiling to longevity in rap.”

“Not only cracking the ceiling; I feel like we kicked down the entire door,” Malice jumps in. “Looking backwards over the years, rappers have been getting away with murder!”

“We’re here coming for the goal every time. And I think that’s the problem: A lot of people are in the game just existing,” Pusha adds. “Not competing, you’re just in it existing in a minor artistic way.”

If “Let God Sort Em Out” wasn’t impressive enough, Clipse are back on the road, playing sold-out shows across the country. On Saturday, they’ll touch down in Los Angeles at the Novo as part of their first tour as a duo in 15 years.

Malice, who refers to fans as “the family,” is eternally grateful to be back doing what he does best for the people he loves.

“They [the family] see through a lot of the circus acts that’s going on in hip-hop and they speak for us when they show up, when we have sold-out shows, in the record sales,” he says. “We don’t take none of that for granted. It’s a real thing and crucial to our existence.”