Let God Sort Em Out - Clipse: Review

Clipse

is the hip-hop duo of brothers Pusha T and Malice. The pair first broke through with a pair of killer albums in the early 2000s, but called it quits when Malice retired from hip-hop for almost a decade while Pusha T pursued a critically acclaimed solo career. Now the duo has re-formed with Malice fully coming out of retirement for their first new album in 16 years. Also along for the ride is Pharrell, a longtime collaborator of Clipse, who dishes out some of his best production in years throughout the record. All parties involved are amazingly still operating at their peak, and with a combination of new ambitions and timeless techniques, the pair crafted a comeback album that most artists can only ever hope for. 

We will talk about the album's lead single later, but I want to start off with its stunning second single, "So Be It." It has this eerie beat that is some of the best production work Pharrell does across the entire album. It also has a hook that has been absolutely glued in my brain for weeks ever since I first heard the song. The song lands among an opening run to the record that is genuinely staggering in how good and versatile it is. Opener "The Birds Don't Sing" is the kind of song I never thought I'd hear on the record. Push and Malice get vulnerable in a truly harrowing way as they split verses discussing their feelings and actions following the death of their mother and father, respectively. It's an almost confrontationally painful way to start off the record, but one they treat with all the appropriate emotional heft, making for one of the defining rap moments of the year. 

That leads into one of the hardest-hitting rap songs I've heard this decade so far, "Chains & Whips." It serves up pummeling verses and an absolutely lethal hook with an eerie pulsating beat. Push & Malice are every bit as cutthroat as you'd expect, and Kendrick Lamar pops up for an absolutely standout closing verse. Throughout the entire second half of his performance, he tries to wrap the verse back to the syllable "gen" as much as possible and gets more mileage out of it than I thought was even possible. Speaking of amazing features, Tyler, The Creator pops up on "P.O.V" and steals the show with some of the funniest one-liners on the entire record. 

There's even more great features on great songs later on the album. "All Things Considered" features an absolutely lethal opening verse from Push that cleverly weaves references to fatherhood and his child into his more hardened drug dealer image. It also concludes with an eerie, breathy performance from The-Dream that serves as the perfect conclusion. The title track "Let God Sort Em Out" is the closest thing the record has to a victory lap celebrating the duo's comeback and flexing their status as legends. Fittingly, they invite another legend into the mix, Nas, who chooses to get out some very deserving flexes of his own in the process. 

Though the first half of the album features most of its absolute highest highs, the hits don't stop coming in the second half. "M.T.B.T.T.F" is the song that reminds me the most of how much I enjoyed classic Clipse. It's packed full of ice-cold coke bars all built around the hilarious "Mike Tyson, blow to the face" hook that's just irresistible. The also acronym-labeled "E.B.I.T.D.A" is a bouncier cut that opens with a shockingly great Pharrell verse. But the very best part is when Push and Malice go back-to-back in the final minute. Finally, there's "Inglorious Bastards" which also features a dancier beat though it's not quite as infectious. The real highlight on the track is the show-stopping final verse from Malice, his very best moment on the entire album. 

The album isn't perfect, but most of my issues are closer to nitpicks than critical failures. "Ace Trumpets" was the lead single, and I like almost everything about it, from the performances to the beat. My only real issue is with some of the kind of hackneyed slant rhymes and forced double entendres that feel below both rappers' abilities. "F.I.C.O" is similarly filled with solid elements, though they do kind of unravel with a Stove God Cooks hook that I don't really care for at all. In fact, I think I would argue it sounds actively bad. If that sounds familiar, it's because a lot of fans have been unpacking Pharrell's own singing on the tracks "So Far Ahead" and "By The Grace Of God." I tend to agree with the general consensus that his singing borders on distractingly bad and really needed another take. I'm willing to give "Grace" a pass because it's a sentimental finale to the record that leads in from its intensity really well. But I can't forgive "So Far Ahead" because it also features the album's very worst lyric, "let God take the wheel, like a Tesla."

Despite a slip-up or two, Let God Sort Em Out is a spectacular record and one of the best rap albums of the year. Pusha T, Malice, and crucially, Pharrell are all in peak form, and as a result, they absolutely dice up the same kinds of beats and subject matter they first made their names on. But it's in the moments where they expand their vision to harrowing and celebratory new peaks that they really show off their influence, maturity, and technique. Rare is the artist who can emerge this late into their career after such a long absence and deliver some of their best work ever. But in their group victory lap, Clipse refuse to settle and elevate their artisty higher than ever before in the process. 8.5/10

For more great hip-hop, check out my review of McKinley Dixon's Magic, Alive!