Climbing out of the long shadow of a fifteen-year hiatus, Clipse — the brothers Pusha T and No Malice — returned to a rap scene that’s been fundamentally altered with a new album, Let God Sort Em Out. Pusha T never really left. He’s spent the last ten years refining the art of menace in rap, becoming an executive at Def Jam and sharpening his pen with solo projects that spiralled into high-concept, minimalist opuses. Malice, now No Malice, took a different route, retreating from the industry, finding God, and watching from the sidelines as his younger brother built a kingdom. But the dual-keyholder, nuclear-grade coke rap that only Clipse can provide has been a phantom limb for the culture. Hence, that spiritual and philosophical divide made the idea of a Clipse reunion feel increasingly mythical. 

Of LGSEO’s many spare moments, “All Things Considered” is where the production bites down hardest. Pharrell reaches past the post-genre gloss he’s become known for in recent years, pulling out a skeletal boom-bap foundation thick with 808s. It’s relentless but open, giving the brothers room to spill without grandeur. And spill they do. Pusha T references his wife’s miscarriage then pivots to a swift jab aimed at J-Prince. Malice, in turn, revisits the very cracks that splintered Clipse a decade and a half ago. Pharrell delivers a concise verse that reads like a ledger of success, sounding unfazed as he counts wins, “Dior slides made of iguana… / Blow a budget like fuck it… / Swear this life is so awesome.” The-Dream closes the track with an unflinching verse, presenting power, violence, and mortality not as dramatic forces, but as bureaucratic procedures: inevitable and impersonal.

Let God Sort Em Out comes with an assertion of continued mastery in a genre that devours its elders. The reunion itself, brokered by time and perhaps a shared understanding of their unique place in the canon, was almost an inevitability. This is the sound of seasoned veterans, having navigated personal evolutions and industry shifts, returning to a familiar, but transformed, battleground.