Never thought I would see the day the Clipse would get back together; the Thorton brothers that became polar opposites over the years. Analogous to Caine and Abel, Terrence "Pusha T" Thorton raps about fast life with enthusiasm and Gene "Malice" Thorton raps like he is tired of the life he was living, like something wasn't sitting right with his spirit. The rap duo reached rap god levels, being notorious for the visceral coke raps backpackers fiend for. Though their was no bad blood between the brothers, a new album felt highly unlikely due to No Malice turning towards religion and promoting a positive message.
Pusha-T continued to pursue his solo rap career, eventually signing to Kanye West's record label, GOOD Music in September of 2010. "Runaway" feature, on Ye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album, really catapulted Push's solo career, leading into his classic mixtapes Fear of God and Wraith of Caine. Early antagonist of Drake, while building his career he was simultaneously bullying Drake with shots in records and eventually exposing Drake's secret child in "Story of Adidon". Push sprinkling classic coke bars throughout his projects, it didn't look like we had a chance of a No Malice collaboration. Until Kanye brought Push and Malice together on,, which appeared on Ye's Christian album Jesus is King. The song didn't have the aggressive street rap, but it showed the chemistry they still had, it still gave a vulnerable perspective that fans love from the Clipse. The collaboration with the brothers gave Clipse fans hope they would do more things in the future. Over the years they gave us a couple more sneak peaks of what a Clipse album could sound like, appearing together on Nigo's track "Punch Bowl" from IKnowNigo!, and "I Pray For You" from Push's album It's Almost Dry. Rumors began circulating June 2023 at Spring/Summer Men's Louis Vuitton Fashion show, when the Clipse previewed "Chains & Whips" featuring the polarizing Kendrick Lamar. A couple of months ago Push and Malice finally made the new album announcement we were waiting for.
Since the Clipse announced their long awaited Let God Sort Em Out, I've been waiting to hear what the rap duo has in store for us. From the early rumors of the album, the project was met with controversy when the Clipse previewed the Kendrick feature at the Louis Vuitton fashion show in 2023. This led to push backs from Def Jam, and the Clipse parted ways with the label and teamed up with Roc Nation for distribution. The main reason for this decision was due to Def Jam trying to censor the verse Kendrick Lamar contributed to the project. Amid one of the most polarizing rap beefs of our time, Def Jam wanted to protect theirselves from lawsuits being initiated by Drake's camp. The Clipse were so adamant on keeping Kendrick's verse on the project, they negotiated cutting ties with Def Jam and pushed back the release of the album nearly a year.
One hell of a roll-out, sparking controversy with the Kendrick verse, along with Push trashing his former boss Kanye, and even his former label mate, Travis Scott, in recent interviews promoting the album. Push and Malice are very calculated and intentional with their project, from the interviews, to the videos, all the way down to the album artwork they hired the legendary KAWS who created Til The Casket Drop artwork. Although there's not official Neptunes production, they got half of the Neptunes, Pharrell Williams, to handle the production; Malice refers to Pharrell as "Saturn."
Though the Clipse don't do Drake and Kendrick numbers when it comes to album sales, amongst rap critics and listeners, they are hailed as rap gods. Drake admitted early in his career how much of a fan he was of the Clipse, so it's ironic Pusha has been using Drizzy as a lyrical punching bag throughout his rap career, dissing Drake continuously unprovoked.
Finally we are here, at the dawn of the new project, Let God Sort Em Out. They led off with releasing "Ace Trumpets" a month ago. Though Push led off with the pee-pee bar, easily the worst Pusha-T bar of all-time, the song could only get better from there. "Ace Trumpets" and the promo single they released via Youtube, "So Be It," showed Malice is still in rap shape. Malice is a master of painting a picture of the good and bad side of the dope game. I would dare to say Malice had some of the dopest verses on the project:
"It don't take much to put two and two
Your lucky streak is now losin' you
Money's dried up like a cuticle
They gaspin’ for air now, it's beautiful
John 10:10, that's my usual
Mommas is fallin' out in funerals"
- Malice's verse from "Chains & Whips"
Malice overdelivered on expectations, but Pusha is almost expected to have the elite bars because of his successful run as a solo artist. Though the album doesn't have the official Neptunes stamp, Let God Sort Em Out comes tailored with the Skateboard P signature production, combining abstract beats with illustrious coke raps. Amazing harmonies are provided throughout the album by John Legend, The Dream, and Pharrell himself. The Clipse put the real in realism, spitting bars that gives listeners the chills. Bars feel so real I'm scared the Thorton brothers might catch an indictment, thank god for the statute of limitations! Clipse go bar-for-bar with some of the best in the game, such as Tyler the Creator, Stove God, Nas, and of course Kendrick(of course you can't have a Clipse album without their long-time collaborator Ad-Liva).
"I remember late nights, pissy hallways driving me psycho
The money wouldn't come fast enough
We was back in forth down, streamline, movin' weight was like lipo
The rest of y'all stuck in a rut
Niggas double cross and talk behind your back, see, that's where the knife go"- Pusha T's verse from "F.I.C.O"
The Stove God feature was like the chef's kiss of the album, with the unorthodox melodies of the street life with sprinkles of double entendres on "F.I.C.O." Kendrick gave a dope verse for "Chains and Whips", so dope it single-handedly built the anticipation for the Clipse album when the song leaked online. The Kendrick verse might of been worth the fuss, providing an aggressive flow with a vocabulary of a revolutionary taking over the rap game. The fuss with Def Jam is kind of confusing though because Kendrick's verse had nothing to do with Drake.
The only complaint I have about the album is that there is too many damn acronyms on the track listing. All jokes aside, Let God Sort Em Out was much needed, amongst all the Rap RICOs that's been indicting "street" rappers with their lyrics and the company they keep. The climate of today's rap has a precarious thin line between art of story telling and reality, endangering the street rap genre. It's refreshing to hear some bars that have the essence of a drug dealer's story told through poetry and entendres. What's the difference between watching Al Pacino's Scarface and listening to the rapper Scarface?
Stream Let God Sort Em Out below: