Credit: Delarge

Hip-hop fans have adored Clipse for almost 30 years. Their debut album, 2002’s Lord Willin’, and the follow-up, 2006’s Hell Hath No Fury, are classic hip-hop albums for good reason. The pair disappeared for around a decade, but now they’re back like they never left. The duo of Pusha T and Malice released their long-awaited album, Let God Sort Em Out, on July 11th.

The project is their first in 16 years following Til the Casket Drops. The group parted ways after Malice converted to Christianity, admitting he was “really affected” by the previous life he led. They reunited for the first time in almost a decade in 2019 on ‘Use This Gospel’, a track from Kanye West’s Jesus Is King album, before teaming up again on ‘I Pray for You’ from Push’s It’s Almost Dry album in 2022.

Unlike their past albums, Let God Sort Em Out is entirely produced by Pharrell without the help of his Neptunes partner, Chad Hugo, after splitting over differences in recent years. The project comprises 13 tracks, including killer singles, ‘Ace Trumpets’ and ‘So Be It’, complete with a Pusha verse that disses Travis Scott.

As for features, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Tyler, the Creator, John Legend, The-Dream, Stove God Cooks, and frequent collaborator Ab Liva all make appearances—it’s truly a star-studded affair. Although there’s no mention of Drake, Kendrick’s verse forced the Clipse out of Def Jam, which is owned by Drizzy’s label, Universal Music Group. Since Def Jam refused to include his verse on the album, they moved over to Roc Nation.

Leading up to the record, Push told Vulture, “I think the album shows the supreme maturation of a rap duo. I think this is where you get the difference between taste and filler. This music is curated. This is a high-taste-level piece of work. You can only have that level of taste when you have the fundamentals down to a science. I think it’s been definitely missing. Then there’s the competitive aspect.”

Malice added, “This is smart basketball. It’s fundamentals. And not only that, it’s authenticity. It’s what rap should look like if you’re real about your craft, real about your experience, real about your storytelling. It’s bringing the fans along to see the growth, not trying to fit in or fabricate.”

He also highlighted the freedom other genres of music allow artists as compared to the hip-hop and rap game, where a change of any kind may be labelled as betrayal or going against well-established routes.

Adding, “It just seems like in other genres of music, they have the luxury of growing. For some reason, we act like we’re not supposed to evolve. This is what the true evolution of the Clipse looks like. It’s just good to be able to show that and still have high-level raps.”

The duo’s promo run has been filled with headline-worthy news, whether it’s Pusha calling Travis Scott a “whore” or distancing himself from his former collaborator, Kanye West, with accusations of “begging”. They also paid millions to get out of their Def Jam deal with allegations involving Drake, but now it’s time for the music to talk. The Clipse take pride in rapping, and Let God Sort Em Out is front to back with just that.