By Marc W. Polite
Good evening, my readers. It has been a few moons since I have done a music review. Truth be told, not much moves me sonically nowadays. Of course, this new Clipse album is the exception.
Let God Sort Em Out is the latest album from The Clipse. Pusha T and No Malice, the Virginia Beach rapping duo spits together for the first time in 16 years. 2009’s “Till The Casket Drops” was sometime ago, and fans might have been worried if they still would come together as a solid project.
I’m here to tell you that there was no need for concern. Despite Pusha T having an active solo career for the last decade and a half, this album sounds like the duo never missed a step. No Malice pen is nothing to play with, and he checks in with tough verses, no curses, and spiritual discernment. Pusha T reads people like no other. Anyone who casually says “I will close your heaven for the hell of it.”- should be left alone. Bruh!!
Being the kind of hip hop listener I am, I gave Let God Sort Em Out three full listens before I even tried to assess it. There were different double entendres that I caught on those different listens. For a backpacker like me, that’s saying a lot.
I won’t go song by song, but I will say that this album is cohesive from start to finish. The song “Birds Don’t Sing” is so heartfelt, and shows their range. It’s a wonderful tribute to their parents. For anyone who has parents who are ancestors, this one tugs at your heartstrings. When too often, the struggles and sacrifices of Black fathers are erased, No Malice verse about his father is a moving tribute. Anyone who says the Clipse just rap about moving that snow needs to listen close.
There are no skips on this album, and the features are sick. Having Nas and Kendrick Lamar as featured artists on the same album should pretty much be illegal. Tyler the Creator spits a verse on there, and kills it in a way that I have not heard since “Trouble on My Mind”
This album, in addition to being a solid record, challenges the too often expressed ageist outlook that permeates hip hop music. To hear certain folks tell it, no one a day over the age of 35 should set foot in the booth. This project, which comes out of respect of the craft of rap, makes this idea sound asinine.
The unstated part of an ageist outlook is the rejection of nuance, wisdom, and a broader perspective on life. Some art can only be produced by personal growth, and that comes along with age. In dispelling that flawed notion, The Clipse have done the rap game a solid this summer.
In a rap landscape of forgettable, but viral songs, Let God Sort Em Out is a breath of fresh air. I’m calling it the album of the summer. Fight me in the comments.