GutterPutter

19 years ago, two brothers from the US state of Virginia made their second studio album with help from a producer duo. The older half Gene “Malice” and the younger half Terrence “Pusha T” Thornton recorded Hell Hath No Fury under the group name of Clipse with the Neptunes which consisted of Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams. It was a massive hit among the hip hop scene with many critics raving about its unparalleled wit around the drug trade – cocaine specifically – and its alien production. Its success did not last however and after the disappointment in 2009’s Till the Casket Drop, Clipse entered hiatus with Push soon becoming one of the biggest rappers in the United States while Malice quietly continued his career with a shift towards Christian rap. The two had then struggled to come together due to Malice’s religious views although by 2016, he had not ruled out the possibility of a reunion.

Fast forward to 2019 – Kanye West’s Jesus is King shocked fans with a feature from the duo without any issue with the brothers being able to reconcile over religious views. Thus marked the beginning of the slow build-up towards the possibility of the fourth album being finally released. First comes another feature on Japanese creative artist and DJ Nigo’s I Know Nigo! in 2022 and Malice’s guest performance on Push’s It’s Almost Dry in the same year. Last year, they confirmed that they’re working on a new album together with Williams being the main producer. Hype continues to balloon as Def Jam Recordings picked the two up by the end of the year as the main record label to distribute and promote it. Three singles and a hundred fired shots later and the two are finally back. Let God Sort Em Out is available for public consumption albeit after a messy departure from Def Jam over some alleged beefs Pusha T and one featured artist have with some outside emcees.

Contrary to the title, Malice’s open Christianity isn’t on complete display here nor are there any serious divine intervention to make the album as cracked up as it is. Let God Sort Em Out sticks out like a warning shot of two veterans who are out to prove that they still have it in spades in a young man’s game. Williams’ aforementioned role as the main producer comes down due to the Neptunes having been disbanded from a lawsuit problem with Hugo and how Clipse retrospectively claimed that Williams handled what was essentially the entirety of the beats back then. In particular, the duo’s flow and cadence is staunchly slick and their rapping converges toward descriptive – and at one point devastating – narratives.

Namely, the intro ‘The Birds Don’t Sing’ turns the metaphor of birds on its head with the duo’s feelings on their mother’s passing and their sense of duties. Push raps of how he failed to comfort his mom in her final moments as he was too busy with his reputation as a mainstream staple. There, his first-person perspective mirrors his self-centeredness which blinds him of his last opportunity for closure as a son who became big in an egocentric genre. “I heard what I wanted to hear but didn’t listen” and “See you were checking boxes / I was checking my mentions” are both quotes in particular that makes Push’s pride secondary to his inability to care for his mom before she passed away. Meanwhile,  Malice’s religiosity hits hard when he views her in a quasi-saintly manner as a key influence on his growth. “Scriptures in the den,” “half written texts”, and “Posting notes Bible quotes” all build an impression of a Mary-like figure who was overlooked for turning a former drug dealer around into a responsible adult late in his life. A song that’s seemingly about death is a perfect start in opening a new chapter of the two’s lives now that they’re reunited and with hunger for a win.

Building on from the two’s lyrical strengths, the flows are flexible and the rhymes are impeccable, both aspects that form the rhythm that makes the missive from a fissure between Clipse’s original era and the melody that followed many rappers nowadays. ‘M.T.B.T.T.F.’ earns a lot of rave comparisons to Biggie Smalls as the two paint a post-mafioso rap image of their success as being built on the ground of smarts and wealth under harsher conditions. Push in particular kicks the first thirty seconds with a rhyme scheme that is comparable perhaps to André 3000’s final ‘Aquemini’ verse which makes for an insane opener. ‘So Far Ahead’ sees Malice’s rapping use his turn of the leaf in the most badass way possible as he contrasts his material success from dealing cocaine with a resounding offer of divine forgiveness. It should’ve been sacrilegious but his self-comparison with a reverend begs for a distinct subgenre that’s built around divine-ordained justifications for wealth. ‘F.I.C.O’ serves as a sobering reminder that the two’s puns and play-ons go beyond drugs as they name-drop car brands as stand-ins for mythical heroes or figures that pale compared to their prestige. ‘P.O.V.’ even seems to land some subliminal disses at Ye as Push appears to imitate his cadence while Malice is open about his sins of greed.

Pharrell’s production also deserves some serious shoutout. Much like with Hell Hath No Fury, he straddles the line between trendy and eccentric when it comes to his sampling. Promotional single ‘So Be It’ takes the sample from Saudi Arabia’s late Talal Maddah playing a Rebab (I believe) and tunes it downward on top of taking a bit of it for a more hardcore effect. Now, it allows Push’s disses against Travis Scott to sting more all the while further adding to Malice’s braggadocio. ‘Ace Trumpets’ similarly carries onward the Rebab with an added emphasis on the bass to compliment the consonances and assonances throughout. His adlib of “This is culturally inappropriate” best sums the scandalous tour-de-force of the two’s comeback which is especially apparent in ‘Inglorious Bastards’ with its triumphant trumpets and bass-boosted variant of boom bap. It’s as infectious as it comes in how it accompanies the rapping of both the duo and guest rapper Ab-Liva.  Then you have ‘E.B.I.T.D.A’ on top where the ghastly vocal sample follows the up-tempo snares in recounting the early days of the two’s underground jobs as cocaine experts.

Hell, even the featured artists themselves are killing it in Let God Sort Em Out with how stellar their presence are even as Clipse remains on top of the billboard. A certain Kendrick Lamar caps the verses off in ‘Chains and Whips’ with a scathing condemnation on the envy and backstabbing that permeates gangsta rap without respect for the previous generations that gave hip hop its artistic merits. It’s a flex given his legendary reputation as a rare example of an emcee who is able to blend both lyrical poetry with commercial success which is further proven by his smooth entry with an ageing duo like Clipse. By contrast, Nas’s verse in the title track is that of someone who should’ve been a wash-up but is instead one who has truly rejuvenated into a trendsetter more than thirty years after Illmatic thanks to his collaborations with Hit-Boy. Even Pharrell’s production might go overboard with the autotune singing for the chorus in ‘All Things Considered’, the beat is sprinkled with trap’s clear heartbeat of a snare and suave bass which aids featured singer The-Dream’s closer on usurpation and mob mentality. The latter track is admittedly a bit of a weak link, but it’s one that wears off all the more apparent after the first few listens given how well-made it is on the outside.

Similar to how A Tribe Called Quest is able to still stand on its own with We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service nearly a decade ago, Pharrell succeeds largely in updating the duo’s style in a new environment without scrapping away their identity when it comes to the beats. This comes in the outro of ‘By the Grace of God’ where the violin sample makes for the grand ending in Malice’s balance between his pride and his faith alongside Pusha T’s small episode of moral retrospection over his drug-dealing past. Even as Pharrell’s autotuned voice sours the impact for a bit, it is a closure worth having for Let God Sort Em Out. The Thornton brothers have made an effort that lands them straight back into a spot in rap’s pantheon and that’s on top of a serious marketing campaign to build hype around their return. Their coke semantics remained untouched even after a decade’s worth of absence, both older fans and newcomers will see this album as a key to open one of the 2000s’ definite greats.

4.8/5