Clipse - Let God Sort Em Out

(The following review has been deemed “culturally inappropriate.”)

Clipse, Pusha T, and Malice. 
They're back. They're so back with their first album in 16 years since 2009's Till the Casket Drops. These guys are a Virginia duo that’s been popular since the early 2000s, with classic albums produced by The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo) such as Lord Willin’ and Hell Hath No Fury, which featured great chemistry from Pusha and Malice, delivering cold bars about drug trade, coke dealing, and their grimy lifestyle in Virginia.

The production formula for making their first two projects as catchy as they were was incredibly simple: synths and drums. Great synths and drums. And while they aren’t the most fleshed-out beats, Pharrell knows how to make a good drum pattern. Those thick 808s and synth layers give way to some incredible lyricism and chemistry between two of the freshest up-and-comers from the South.


Now, I’d be remiss to say that there wasn’t a lot of roughness within the group. They've experienced their fair share of setbacks over their career, the most notable one being that their tour manager was arrested in 2009 on drug trafficking charges, earning him up to 30 years in prison. 30! 
And by force, not by choice, the duo was no longer. 

Pusha T went on to do his own thing. 
He started his solo career, which was very successful. He went on to drop acclaimed albums, including My Name Is My Name, featuring great singles, including
“Numbers On The Board” and “Nosetalgia.” He became president of Kanye's GOOD Music. He has done many collaborations with Kanye, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross, and Pharrell. Then Malice, on the other hand, kept to himself a little more quietly, more humbled. He embarked on a different venture and began creating Christian rap music under the name No Malice. And it was decent for what it was, but nothing to write home about either.

The times when Clipse did reunite before this new album were on two separate occasions. Once on Kanye's Jesus Is King, on the song “Use This Gospel,” where Push and Malice both have quick features before entering into an awkward Kenny G solo. I think that song and the album are both underwhelming.
I think Kanye sucks, but that's a different story.

The other time they reunited was on Pusha T’s It's Almost Dry on the final track of the album, “I Pray for You” featuring Labirinth, which Pharrell also produced.  Malice has the final verse on the album, as lyrically, he’s soul searching on what separated the group, what made them come back, and where they are now. 
And I thought to myself, if this is the version of Malice that we are hearing now and the version of him that is the most authentic to himself, then why can't we hear a new Clipse album in the year of our lord 2025? Well, now we can. 

When this album was announced, it felt like a fever dream. My Twitter feed was flooded with the album cover, with the album trailer, with people freaking out that after 16 years and by chance, by coincidence, and with the Neptunes disbanded, and completely produced by Pharrell, that Clipse will be back making new music together. It felt almost like the Avengers Endgame of rap music, to make a kind of corny comparison. It felt like there was no way to escape the hype.
There was no doubt how monumental this album would be. How would it turn out? Would we hear the same old nostalgic Neptunes-inspired production? Or will Pharrell coast more into the modern direction that Pusha T has been crafting for the past decade or so? 

Well, the answer is the latter, and I think this decision makes the album all the better for it. There are elements of their classic albums that remain the same. Pharrell is executive producing this time without his Neptune's counterpart, Chad Hugo. 
However, the production does feel similar to his production credits on It's Almost Dry. 
Pharrell honed in on that trap-infused style more this time and wanted to perfect that sound a bit more on this album, and what better time than now? I don't blame him. 

I don’t feel like Clipse is actively trying to return to their former glory. It's not a continuation of where they left off, but where they are now. Because after some reflecting and time off away from the duo, and the two going onto their solo adventures, eventually meeting up to it again, a lot has changed, including the rap soundcape turning on its head. 
So obviously, going back to that old-2000s style may not be as effective for a new album. 

All that being said, there are not many comeback records that are as solid as what Clipse does here on Let God Sort Em Out.

This album is amazing. Like I said, I think Pharrell's newer style of production revitalizes the duo in that way. 
Like, the duo knows how to work with these sounds. They're not unfamiliar with it. Pusha T’s rapping is as fresh as ever, but Malice fits into the fold seamlessly as his true self on these beats.
This is the coldest, the darkest Malice has sounded in ages. What people were missing from the rollout was how monumental the return of Malice would be. And now it seems like Gene is getting his flowers, finally. And it's long overdue because I think most of the time on this album, he's stealing the show. He is working his ass off, crafting some of the coldest, most dangerous bars of his career. He completely surprised me as to how cold he was, how original, and fresh he came off. 

And it's so exciting to see both him and Push revitalized. The whole album rollout was just filled with so much enthusiasm from the two of them. They knew that the bomb was going to explode and ripple when this thing dropped. And let me tell you, it was everything I wanted and more. I could not be more pleased.

“The Birds Don’t Sing,” the opening track featuring both John Legend and Pharrell. Where do I even begin? This reflects on the story of both Pusha T and Malice losing their parents, four months apart. Push reflects on the last time he saw his mother, almost telling his side of the story as if his mother had planned for her time to come. She was setting the house, washing dishes, making connections with her friends, and making calls for the last time. Like, she knew it was coming. 
And to hear that song's somber but quiet kick off the album, we get an idea of where the duo is coming from. Malice then talks about the last time he saw his dad, his conversation, and ends with the line, “I love my two sons was the code to your phone. Now you call me.”
For a ruthless, in-your-face project that is relentless and, even violent at times,
I think this opener gives the album a sense of groundedness, as Push and Malice place their world back into perspective.

And it is from that point forward where we see the duo’s “second wind” kick in on the track “Chains and Whips,” which is cold-blooded as hell. The knocking sound on the Pharrell drums, the bass, and the organ flips.
Oh, my gosh. Everything just screams, so cold and ominous, like you're about to be stabbed in a pitch black room and you don't know where the blade is coming from.
Push says at one time, “I will close your heaven from the hell of it.” During that part, I felt like he was standing behind me, crushing my head, hand over it, pretending to be God. 
All the verses on that song are fire, especially Kendrick Lamar’s guest appearance, which I'm glad that a superstar as big as him is coming in for an album that is as big as Clipse’s reunion. I think they're just a match made in heaven.

But what I found even more enjoyable was “P.O.V.,” which has a similar chord progression as the previous track, but man, these verses are even more cold-blooded than the next. I love the flow on the chorus. “P.O.V. Kilos in my Maybach.”
Push always has a good eye for choruses, vocal inflections, and how words flow together, and this hook might be the catchiest on the project.
Tyler, the Creator, has a funny tongue-in-cheek guest feature, which is sort of a break from all the sadistic stuff we've been getting thus far.

But Malice on the back end takes the cake with one of his darkest, headiest verses against a swift, hard-as-nails beat change. “As far as I'm concerned, I do be he/ I can open up my closet with a skeleton key/ If I lie to myself, I can sell it to me/ I done sung along with rappers I never believed.” Malice does a specific rap scheme on almost every track. Even if it's not like the most impressive flows, he knows how to string words together, like in a sequence.

The next song was one of the teasers to the album, “So Be It,” and it might be my favorite track on the album. I don’t know. I’m still deciding. Anyways, Pharrell locked in for this beat! The Arabic orchestra samples, the vocal snippets, the rewound, reversed beat chops. It's insane. I didn't hear any of this style of production on 
It's Almost Dry, even though it is very stylistically similar, but Pharrell's on another level with this beat. I think it's one of the best he's made. And the song might be my most played from the album, come to think of it. “C-L-I-P-S-E Epi, 8-ball LV, I can show you how to bust a brick if you let me.” Never gets old.

“Ace Trumpets” was the first teaser single for the album, which grew on me through repeated listenings, despite its brevity. Like, love, or hate Pharrell, he knows how to make a good drum beat. 
Those 808s during the verses are heavy as hell, and then paired with the thick synth bass, I feel like my skull's being melted down to my organs. That doesn't make sense. 
But anyway, it was a very short and sweet opener teaser. I think in context with the project, it's just another impressive addition to the track list.

“All Things Considered,” the next track, I felt, was one of the weaker pieces. Matter of fact, I'll just get one of my main gripes out right away:
I think Pharrell's vocal appearances could have been stronger. I think on some of the hooks that Pharrell does, I respect him for being the star of his production, the writing, and vocal credits he's had on songs such as “Mr. Me Too,” or “Cot Damn! It's a new day!”

I unfortunately can't say the same about Pharrell on this new album, sadly. Some of the vocal snippets sound like he's phoning it in a little bit, leaving more room for Clipse to do their thing. 
But at the same time, I think Pharrell's more focused on production and less on his mic appearances. It could just be my assumption. I don't know. On
some of the choruses, he sounds like he's singing in a SpongeBob voice, especially on this one, where he's a little more autotuned. I’m not head over heels for it, but it's not entirely bad either. I think the verse from The Dream at the end is a pretty good addition to the track. It wraps things up well, like, more than, I think Pharrell could, if he ended the song. 
Not a bad addition to the track list, but I'm not super stoked about it either.

But the next track, “M.T.B.T.T.F.” (Mike Tyson blow to the face),
whew! This one caught me off guard. It's kind of like a double entendre instead of getting punched in the face, it's like, “she wants Mike Tyson blow to the face” like she wants “snow on a plate.” I love how both Push and Malice start their verses a cappella, and then they glide straight into this beat that reminds me more of their older output.
It does read a little more nostalgic to their 2000s output, but the high hats, the bass drum, and the freaking piano key hits like it's all a recipe for such a cold rap song.

“F.I.C.O.,” with Stove God Cooks, was awesome. I wish Stove had a longer feature, but that being said, the time that he does have on the song is spent incredibly well. 
He is known for doing what Clipse does, except for the underground side of rap. In the Griselda Records camp, he handles a lot of WestSide Gunn’s hooks. If Westside Gunn can't do a hook, Stove fills in for him. He knows hook and melody really well, and shows a ton of unrestricted charisma. So a match between Clipse and Stove is seamless. If he were on an upcoming Clipse album, if they were to make music again, I think Stove would be better off having a verse. 
I would love to see how he would fit in rapping alongside Pusha T and Malice for an entire song, taking on as big a role as them, but for what we got, I'm pleased. 

“Inglorious Bastards,” I love the marching band of interpolations on the production. Push takes up more than half of the song, while Malice’s verse is very short and sweet.
There's also an appearance from Ab-Liva, who was a part of Clipse’s Re-Up Gang, originally one of four members, along with Push and Malice, of course. I may not have that strong of an impression on the track, but it was a pleasant surprise hearing him, Malice, and Push team back up and re-unite for this album.

“So Far Ahead” has Pharrell singing on the hook again, but he cannot hit the notes without straining. 
I’m sorry but his boyish vocal delivery can’t carry these two heavy-ass verses, as both rappers are reflecting on where they are now and where they came from. Both Pusha T’s and Malice’s contributions are some of the most heartfelt on the record, and they become intertwined in this awkward, throaty chorus.
“They don't know what it is, but I'm on it”. I wish I could take this song more seriously, but if we got John Legend on the hook, if he had another feature, he would kill it. But I think both verses are incredibly well thought out and save the song from being a complete lull.

“Let God Sort Em Out /Chandeliers” brings the energy up once again. Huge synth leads in the first half of the track. 
Push and Malice are riffing off each other and finishing each other’s bars. This is the closest they've been on the entire album. One bar ends, and another bar catches on. And then Nas comes in for a special appearance, and he portrays the savior in this situation against an infectious and heavenly beat switch-up. 
Such a good way to bring the final leg of the project to its climax, before coasting into like the final track, which is the calm after the storm.

“By the Grace of God” is the final track on the album. I don't mind the Pharrell hook as much. 
I think it works more for this song. It's more like a triumphant call. I've done all of this, and I'm finally at peace for now. 
And we made it here like…all because of chance, because he was watching me up there. Pusha T and Malice once again take their verses and turn them into something reflective, but also forward-thinking and hopeful. And it's like the first glimmer of hope we see on most of the album, a great note to leave the project on.

Even if I do have my gripes, Clipse delivered one of the best rap comebacks in recent memory, and one of the best comeback albums I've heard this past decade, easily. There are not that many hip hop groups who decide to rejoin and sound this fresh and reinvigorated. I haven't heard this strong of a rap comeback album this solid since A Tribe Called Quest’s We Got It From Here in 2016. So nine years. Feels insane to say that.

I would love to see Push and Malice continue to work with each other, and by the rate that this is going, you know, ending up at number four on the Billboard charts, how much staying power it's been having on Apple Music, the Pharrell cred obviously, I think they're still going to make music together. At least that's my hope. Both seem really into the craft, really into each other, and more into Clipse than ever. And I'm glad that this was kind of a second wind, and a very forward-thinking second wind. And it just happens to sound fantastically put together. Go listen to this one, even if you’re unfamiliar with the duo, and you might just have yourself a snowday.

Favorite Tracks: The Birds Don’t Sing, So Be It, P.O.V., Chains and Whips, Ace Trumpets, M.T.B.T.T.F., F.I.C.O., Let God Sort Em Out/Chandeliers, By the Grace of God

Least Favorite: So Far Ahead

9/10