Clipse have been an integral part of my Hip-Hop journey since I was a teenager. From “Grindin'” being a staple on MTV2 to wearing the burned CDs I made of the We Got It 4 Cheap mixtape series to Hell Hath No Fury expanding my musical palette not just to the underworld that Pusha T and Malice describes but how far ahead of the curve Pharrell and Chad (The Neptunes) were with production.
They initially ended their run in the late 2000s with Til the Casket Drops with mixed results. While I am a defender of that album to this date, what they were going for just didn’t fit them. They shouldn’t be chasing radio hits, they work better when they keep things gutter and more pure than the white they rap about selling. Malice would go on to serve the Lord and Pusha T sold his soul to Satan in a Klansman robe. They would reunite a few times on half-baked collaborations and the announcement would come that they were working on a new album, but like most things, I had the mentality of “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Then 2025 came…
The anticipation was high. The bar was raised. The expectations are great. How did they do?
1. The Birds Don’t Sing
Featuring John Legend & Voices of Fire; Produced by Pharrell Williams
Breaking the fourth wall, I have been thinking about this a lot lately, about the idea of loss. The final conversation you have with a loved one. Especially, when they are your parents. I didn’t have it this much with my father because my relationship with him, was never the greatest, if anything non-existent, but I do have these thoughts when it comes to my mother, the one who has been there, taught me how to be a man, guided me through childhood, teen angst and early adulthood. I can’t help but listen to this song and not end up on the verge of a tear shedding. It is rare that music does that to me, but it’s real emotion. Great opener and a must-listen if you’re a Clipse fan or a rap fan in general.
2. Chains & Whips
Featuring Kendrick Lamar; Produced by Pharrell Williams
One of the most anticipated songs off this album. Pusha’s verse still hits hard after hearing it two years earlier (especially with all the nonsense Jim Jones has been letting off as of late… too many things to note.). If Pharrell’s production was the bread, Pusha’s verse was the meat, Malice’s verse was the toppings, Kendrick’s was that extra seasoning it needed. The alliteration at the second half of the verse had my eyes widening and it didn’t stop until the song ended. My thing however is…
THIS was the verse UMG was scared of?
That’s how you know no matter how much their golden boy is dragging them through the mud, they will defend him at all costs because he’s their bottom line. Outside of that, let demon time commence!
3. P.O.V.
Featuring Tyler, The Creator; Produced by Pharrell Williams
Pusha’s talking his SHIT here. Too many lines.
All I see is 60 day stars and 20 year thousandaires
You stream kings but you nеver fit a crowd in there
You Zeus network niggas, you hear me loud and clear
Get these fifty five hundred a hosting niggas out of here
Ghostface with the wrist, bird falconaire
Shotgun wit’ ya ex, feels like Malcolm’s near
Just to think I built a rap career off an oz
I’m watchin’ new niggas rap just to O.D.
If I didn’t give you both sides, I wouldn’t be me
I was the only one to walk away and really be free
Came back for the money, that’s the Devil in me
Had to hide it from the church, that’s the Jekyll in me
Pusha sounds like Ma$e stepping back into the underworld and enjoying the lavish life while observing what the peons are doing around him. Tyler is rapping like he has been waiting for this moment his whole life. Come to think, he has, just find the video of him screaming at Pharrell to play “Mr. Me Too” at a N.E.R.D. concert. Malice spoke truth in his verse. Shows you that even though he turned his life to the man upstairs, don’t mistake kindness for weakness.
4. So Be It
Produced by Pharrell Williams
Clipse told yall what a lot of us already knew…
Travis Scott is an asshole.
You cried in front of me, you died in front of me
Calabasas took your bitch and your pride in front of me
Her Utopia had moved right up the street
And her lip gloss was poppin’, she ain’t need you to eat
The ‘net gon’ call it the way that they see it
But I got the video, I can share and A.E. it
They wouldn’t believe it, but I can’t unsee it
Lucky I ain’t TMZ it, so be it, so be it
The funny thing is, yes, Jackboys 2 went number one. Yes, this will not hinder Travis’s popularity. The one thing people forget is that the point of these disses, are to remind you, your favorites ain’t always who you think they are. I’m so glad that this version is the one on streaming because I was upset when this wasn’t on platforms at first and then the initial release had a different sample and it didn’t hit like this one did.
But, all is right with the world and this will be one of my most bumped songs of the year, whether the stats show it or not.
And has me wondering…
…that Jay-Z verse has got to be in the works right?
5. Ace Trumpets
Produced by Pharrell Williams
I still don’t like that “pee-pee” line but this set everything up for what we would get and this is vintage Clipse. My first initial listen of the song was just me being happy that Malice was back. I haven’t stopped bumping this song since it came out.
6. All Things Considered
Featuring The-Dream & Pharrell Williams; Produced by Pharrell Williams
Out of the six songs, this is my least favorite. It’s a little more understated than the previous tracks, but this is really just to settle things down before they hit us over the face again with a Mike Tyson blow.
7. M.T.B.T.T.F.
Produced by Pharrell Williams
The folks over at Dead End Hip Hop are fucking tripping. This production knocks! I’m literally moving my head the same way I did when I heard this snippet over a year ago. It’s like the soul of Biggie was reincarnated through Push and Malice as I can picture this coming out in the 90s during the Bad Boy era.
8. E.B.I.T.D.A.
Produced by Pharrell Williams
Luxury rap at its finest. I would say in this case, the production is doing more of the heavy lifting on this track, while the Thornton brothers are a little more relaxed. Dare I say, this is a song for the “casuals”?
9. F.I.C.O.
Featuring Stove God Cooks; Produced by Pharrell Williams
Stove God Cooks somehow always steals the show by doing the least.
Wit a fetti so strong you gotta bag it wit one eye closed
Shout out to Fetty Wap.
Like I said, Dead End Hip Hop is buggin’. Those hipster dipshits at Pitchfork are on the blow. They probably got it from Clipse. My head is nodding back and forth while I’m screw facing the whole time from this beat. Flow is consistent throughout the track. This is one of my go-to’s from this album.
10. Inglorious Bastards
Featuring Ab-Liva; Produced by Pharrell Williams
Them infamous Clue drops.
A Re-Up Gang reunion with Ab-Liva. Them “Culturally Inappropriate” ad-libs I could’ve done without being spread all over. They kind of take me out of the song a bit with how distracting they can be. Outside of that, this song made me wanna go back to my burned copy of We Got It 4 Cheap, Vol. 2. That was a glorious summer.
11. So Far Ahead
Featuring & Produced by Pharrell Williams
People need to understand that Clipse never have to work alongside any other producers. Don’t make another Til the Casket Drops (I still like the album, though!). The chemistry between Clipse and Pharrell (and Chad back in the day, work things out y’all!) is second to none. Only Pharrell can pull off a falsetto while shitting on us broke niggas.
12. Let God Sort Em Out/Chandeliers
Featuring Nas; Produced by Pharrell Williams
AGAIN. What the hell are these niggas wit nigga ears talking about when it comes to the production not knocking? A C+???….A 6.5??? And you rate Sexyy Red higher, Pitchfork???
I feel like this song is the last thing you hear before they close the trunk on you as you ride to your impending doom. And then Nas comes in as the victory lap while they celebrate at your grave.
13. By the Grace of God
Featuring & Produced by Pharrell Williams
This is the victory lap. After 15 years of following different paths, prioritizing different factors in life, they made it. They returned to put niggas on notice and Pharrell caps it off with his hook and the album closes. Man… I love Hip-Hop.
I’ll keep this short (HA!). For those that are in the know, quality in rap music has never gone away, you just have to look far and wide for it. I may be able to help with that… stay tuned.
However, in the “mainstream”, a reset has been brewing, a shift has been needed, a balance has needed to be restored. People are talking about lyrics again, because of this album (and a previous rap battle that I’m quite tired of talking and hearing about). Not only that, but this album proves that you can be well into your 40s and 50s and drop arguably the best material of your career. Nas proved that with his King’s Disease and Magic series. You have veterans all across the board, dropping solid material this year alone. Then you have this. To drop an album this great where even the low lights are still considered dope, is something that only the Thornton brothers alongside their longtime friend and producer could do.
Rappers, content creators, pundits, bitch ass streamers are going to try their hardest to downplay this album and the rollout behind this album, but there is a reason why Def Jam/Biebervelli decided to drop a surprise, colonized R&B album the same day as Let God Sort Em Out. There’s a reason Travis Scott decided to release that Jackboys 2 album and despite it selling more, knowing good and damn well, this was a throwaway filler album at best. The older I get, the more I realize, I can only have my mindless, turn-up bullshit at a minimum. It’s junk food. Let God Sort Em Out is nourishment. Shout out to Clipse, shout out to Pharrell, y’all made an album I’m gonna be bumping the rest of the year and for years to come. If they don’t like it… “so be it, so be it.”
