Rap’s most diabolical tandem released their first album since 2009 and we picked our favorite bars. Check it out.
Clipse ‘Let God Sort Em Out’
Courtesy Photo
“This is culturally inappropriate.”
That’s the tagline that you’ll hear throughout the Clipse‘s first album in 15 years. “We know when we’re being ignorant,” said Malice during an interview with Elliott Wilson after being asked what the phrase meant. And some of the lines you’ll read on this list are just that: ignorant.
There’s no shortage of references about drug dealing and subliminal shots. They talk about things like needing more space to turn coca leaves into a paste so that it eventually can be made into cocaine. Pusha T delivers maniacal bars like a comic book villain with a knack for dark humor while his older brother toes the line of good and evil with the demeanor of a serial killer. In short, the Clipse delivered a masterclass in barology that has become a lost art in today’s mainstream rap landscape.
With rap features from Tyler, The Creator, Kendrick Lamar, Stove God Cooks, Re-Up Gang affiliate Ab-Liva, and the legendary Nas Escobar, Let God Sort Em Out spans multiple generations of rap over the course of 13 tracks and each guest held their own as they were given the task to match wits with the two best siblings to ever pick up a microphone.
The task was painstakingly impossible, but I was somehow able to pick out 25 lines to wax poetic about and rank. I’m sure I’ll change my mind on a couple of these after it’s been published, so please be polite when hopping in my mentions.
Check out the 25 best lines on Let God Sort Em Out below.
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“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”
Song: “Inglorious Bastards”
Who said it? Ab-LivaWhat’s a Clipse project without an Ab-Liva feature? And what’s an Ab-Liva feature without a standout line like comparing his Benz to the Prince of Pan-Africanism, a.k.a. King Kong Consciousness a.k.a. Dr. Umar Johnson?
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“The grass is greener on each side/ I done been both Mason Bethas/ I done been at both intersections/ I done pulled Ocean 11s/ Even when the well ran dry/ I done raised quotes in the desert”
Song: “So Far Ahead”
Who said it? MaliceThe strange case of No Malice and Malice.
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“Single-handedly boosted rap to its truest place/ F—k speaking candidly, I alone did rejuvenate/ Hip-hop into its newest place/ Made it cool for Grammy nominated LPs from previous-generation MCs/ And that rings loud and reverberates/ It’s not fair to them, I’m thinking I deserve the hate”
Song: “Let God Sort Em Out/Chandeliers”
Who said it? NasFrom changing the game with Illmatic in ’94 to winning Grammys during the latter part of his career, Esco can still rap circles around your favorite rappers. That’s why he’s able to rock chandeliers around his neck.
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“Conspiracy theory, you can’t believe it’s us/ Soul leave your body like a fentanyl rush/ Dead on your back with your eyes looking up/ Chandeliers”
Song: “Let God Sort Em Out/Chandeliers”
Who said it? Malice & Pusha TThese guys are diabolical.
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“We was powerliftin’ 2.2s/ Nah, we ain’t throw gang signs/ My brick walk was second to none/ I would have them take a number like DMV/ That was the baseline/ Check out on Register 1”
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“Pay attention and listen, the snake’s hissin’/ N—as is writin’ statements and say they didn’t/ Dream of taking you down, the hate hidden/ Wanna show you around but they J Princin’”
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“The Bezos of the nasal, that’s case closed/ Got a team full of J. Bo’s on they toes/ N—as measly, cheap as Riesling, believe me/ I can tell because your b—ches look needy”
Song: “M.T.B.T.T.F.”
Who said it? Pusha TNo rapper can express villainy and disgust quite like Pusha T.
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“Took chains and touched change like King Midas/ Imitation is flattery, they seem like us/ But only 300 bricks can make you Leonidas/ My old plug asked the new plug to reunite us/ D class in my ears now let me see you bite it”
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“Your co-defendant claimed immunity, it was you and he/ How’d you not know?/ Unless he leavin’ court in a Bentley Sport just to meet you on a yacht, though/ Understand ‘The Art of War’/ All my n—as draw, so we all Picassos”
Song: “So Far Ahead”
Who said it? Pusha TI know you was sick when you saw your mans singing like a bird after they give him some McDonald’s on that episode of The First 48.
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“N—as is my sons, and that’s on repeat/ Sins of the Father, so I call you Little Meeches”
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“Keep frontin’ for your b—ches ‘cause any minute repo might show/ You know that s—t up in a month/ Heard your man was in there singing for his life/ They was calling him maestro/ ‘Cause time that heavy can crush/ When you pay a n—a back like it’s layaway, whisperin’, ‘Die slow’/ The last words you hear in the trunk”
Song: “F.I.C.O.”
Who said it? Pusha T“The last words you hear in the trunk” is such a crazy line, I don’t know where to start. Something is clearly wrong with Pusha T.
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“If you re-ing up with us then your credit score gotta be F.I.C.O./ I’m talkin’ 850 or bust”
Song: “F.I.C.O.”
Who said it? Pusha TI would like to refer you to the last rule on the list of the “Ten Crack Commandments.”
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“Let’s be clear, hip-hop died again/ Half of my profits may go to Rakim/ How many Judases that let me down?/ But f—k it, the West mines, we right now/ Therapy showed me how to open up/ It also showed me I don’t give a f—k”
Song: “Chains & Whips”
Who said it? Kendrick LamarBiases aside, Kendrick is the King of Rap at this very moment. You don’t have to like it but you must acknowledge it.
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“My n—a Push keep dirty white moving like mosh pits/ They watchin’/ I’m like white b—ches the way I pop s—t/ I need God to play the lead in my biopic/ The curse of the zeros/ When you become the Devil or the tap dancing negro/ I came to terms that I’ma probably outgrow my heroes”
Song: “P.O.V.”
Who said it? Tyler, The CreatorS—t-talkin’ metaphors and bars about the pitfalls of success — this is rap music from the No. 1 Clipster.
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“You n—as bustin’ bricks on a plate/ I need more space to make paste”
Song: “E.B.I.T.D.A.”
Who said it? Pusha T & MaliceI wish Push and Malice would go back and forth like this more often like Kiss and Styles. The line about making paste takes me back to watching those first couple seasons of Narcos.
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“My shooter turn you inside out/ I heard the Feds turned the crib inside out/ Drop the roof on you n—as, let the inside out/ Fresh Prince jacket, boy, I cook ‘em until they inside out”
Song: “F.I.C.O.”
Who said it? Stove God CooksSpike Lee couldn’t paint a better picture. Hopefully this is the first of many collabs between the Clipse and Stove because it’s a match made in cocaine heaven. And I’m aware that the God was only on chorus duty, but Pusha said during a playback I attended a few weeks back that he sent him the track and let him do his thing, so it counts.
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“Sand color Rolls Royce, we like Saudis here/ The only Audi here is driven by my au pair/ Ghostface with the wrist, bird falconaire/ Willy Falcon, trunk full of talcum here/ Shotgun wit’ ya ex, feels like Malcolm’s near/ Send a hit though a text, ain’t no shoutin’ here/ Bypass M.I.A., too much crowd in there/ I spent summers wit’ connects, love that mountain air”
Song: “P.O.V.”
Who said it? Pusha T“Jewelry shoppin’ out of the country, deluxe luxury/ People sayin’ that my chains look truck on me/ But what about the Wonder Woman bracelet?/ Two-oh point three diamond cut engraved rubies kid, I laced it”
That’s Ghostface on Raekwon’s “Ice Water” for context when it comes to that mention and there’s still more layers to what’s being said here. Wrist work while manning the stove, birds in the air, and references about Miami kingpins and South American home court advantage like when road teams have to play in Denver. Just elite level rapping.
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“Every move intentional, the links is atypical/ Like baseball in DR, you know what the stick’ll do/ We got the drop on your shadow/ You know we could get to you”
Song: “Let God Sort Em Out/Chandeliers”
Who said it? Pusha T & MaliceThey’re like the Salamanca twins in Breaking Bad.
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“White glove service with the brick/ I am Luigi”
Song: “Ace Trumpets”
Who said it? Pusha TOne sniff and suddenly you’re wearing white overalls and moving at a hundred miles a minute.
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“You run from the spirit of repossession/ Too much enamel covers your necklace/ I buy b—tches, you buy ’em sections/ You buy watches, I buy collections/ Misery’s fuelin’ your aggression/ Jealousy’s turned into obsession/ Reality TV is mud wrestlin’/ Some signed checks, I know better than/ Beware of my name, that there is delicate/ You know I know where you’re delicate/ Crush you to pieces, I hum a breath of it/ I will close your heaven for the hell of it/ You’d think it’d be valor amongst veterans/ I’m watchin’ your fame escape relevance”
Song: “Chains & Whips”
Who said it? Pusha TThe first verse on “Chains & Whips” is essentially directed at Jim Jones, and Push recently explained the “enamel” line to Genius in a way that made his older brother chuckle. I’m also aware that I included most of the verse and when this is a list about lines but you gotta allow it.
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“Coke spots all over like leprosy/ It’s a dark spirit tucked behind the flesh you see/ Got every single word of the hex I need/ The death I breathe, the death I see/ Looks so good on ya, the coffin wood on ya/ Closed casket ’cause I’m only siccing wolves on ya/ Berlinetta horse power, put them hooves on ya”
Song: “Let God Sort Em Out/Chandeliers”
Who said it? Pusha TPush could pen a horror script.
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“I done sung along with rappers I never believed/ Came back for the money, that’s the Devil in me/ Had to hide it from the church, that’s the Jekyll in me/ I never thought twice what the pressure would be/ ‘Cause n—as’ chains look just like oppression to me”
Song: “P.O.V.”
Who said it? MaliceMalice came back like he never left with sobering yet menacing raps. The guy raps like he’s a psychopath that has a secret life being a community leader like a deacon or something like that — or like if Dexter ran a soup kitchen.
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“You cried in front of me, you died in front of me/ Calabasas took your b—ch and your pride in front of me/ Her utopia had moved right up the street/ And her lip gloss was poppin’, she ain’t need you to eat/ The ‘net gon’ call it the way that they see it/ But I got the video, I can share and A.E. it/ They wouldn’t believe it, but I can’t unsee it/ Lucky I ain’t TMZ it, so be it, so be it”
Song: “So Be It”
Who said it? Pusha THe put Travis in a blender, man. No wonder Travis decided to drop Jackboys 2 during the same weekend we get the first Clipse album in about 15 years.
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“Sold Ecstasy and disappeared/ I am Whodini”
Song: “Ace Trumpets”
Who said it? Pusha TI covered this when I did a “Best Lines” list when “Ace Trumpets” dropped, and Push notably sent in a correction on X which helped us get some traffic — so shouts to him and this insane line.
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“Never leaving home without my piece like I’m Mahatma”
Song: “Ace Trumpets”
Who said it? MaliceMight be the line of the year.