It feels like Pusha T has always been in my life.

He starts the track F.I.F.A. off his 2015 studio album, King Push – Darkest Before Dawn, saying, “They been tryna tie me to the BALCO“, implying his drug operation is so notorious, it may even be responsible for providing Human Growth Hormones to professional baseball players.

That line always sticks with me.

If you’re around the same age as me, you remember every ESPN summer being dedicated to watching Barry Bonds hit baseballs into ponds 400 feet away from home plate.

That BALCO steroid investigation was everywhere.

From kids slapping the grinding beat on lunchroom tables to BALCO references—Pusha T has been omnipresent in my human experience.

I keep the streets so numb they call me “Novocain”
I turn over ‘caine over and over again

I have more Pusha T lines in my memory than my friend’s and family’s birth dates.

I have a vague idea what month my mother was born but I know every line to Nosetalgia.

And now Malice and Pharrell are back to reunite Clipse.

I know this because Push and Malice have been on a nationwide tour promoting this album with anyone who has a microphone.

That sounds like a critique but it’s more of an indicator of how confident the two brothers were in the art they created.

Plus, all those interviews provide the proper lens through which the Clipse should be listened to.

Clipse made Let God Sort Em Out, for over a year, in Paris with Pharrell, at his Louis Vuitton job.

As someone who has often used company time to work on side projects, this resonates with me.

Loooooot of Deadseriousness articles were written on the clock.

Our young maniacs from Virginia are all grown up.

Ya boy hit play on Track 1—”The Birds Don’t Sing”—expecting to hear some slick talking about using birds as drug mules or some shit and nope, just an incredible song about the passing of their mother.

“Lost in emotion, mama’s youngest, tryna navigate life without my compass” Pusha says to start Let God Sort Em Out—as he proceeds to process his mom’s final days—realizing he may have been selfish while she was silently struggling—before big brother jumps on, asking his mother if he should even be rapping again.

It’s good to know Pharrell can still make classic rap beats if he wants.

I suppose he often doesn’t want.

I reckon it’s unfair to ask the guy who works for Louis Vuitton to also be one of the best producers in the world again.

If a bird flies by my window, I lose my train of thought and can’t finish a paragraph.

I guess it’s okay that Pharrell doesn’t want to make good beats anymore.

Thankfully, he invited Pusha T over to inspire him to make fire beats like “So Be It”, “E.B. I.T.D.A”, and “Inglorious Bastards”—the latter, Inglorious Bastards, featuring Ab-Liva.

A throwback to everything that made those original Clipse records so different.

Pusha T starts the track saying, “Catch me in the kitchen where the dope is, with an apron that’s whiter than the Pope’s is“.

We are so fucking back.

Ab-Liva comes in for a third verse saying “Been playin’ in the snow like Rudolph, In that 2 door, roof helping me cool off. Chains on me like Slick Rick the Ruler, seats white but the 6 blacker than Umar” over NUTS drums, yo.

My guy dropped a coke bar, an old head Slick Rick reference and a Dr. Umar jab.

I don’t want to hear that new Playboi Carti shit.

Not when god level MCs are talking to me.

I am in no way a doomer when it comes to the state of rap. Sure, rappers like Travis Scott and Carti are famous but there are too many cats consistently putting out fire.

Boldy James and Larry June just dropped bangers today.

But I still find joy in knowing that Clipse, these living legends, are still capable of creating art that feels tethered in our reality, and not the distorted, frankly boring, realities of some of their contemporaries like Kanye West—who loves Hitler now, I think or Jay-Z—who pops up once every 8 months telling us to invest our small paychecks in war bonds or whatever the fuck.

This is my first album review is years. I guess I should give it a score?

How about an 8 out of 10? Eat my shorts, Pitchfork, dorks.

Best Tracks: The Birds Don’t Sing, So Be It, M.T.B.T.F.F., E.B.I.T.D.A., Inglorious Bastards

Best Guest Verse: Tyler The Creator on P.O.V.

You Can Skips: All Things Considered,

 

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Thanks for reading.

Let me know your thoughts on Clipse’s new album Let God Sort Em Out. Respond on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee. 

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