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Pusha T and his brother Malice will reunite as the Clipse for a brand-new album over a decade after their hiatus.
The Virginia natives confirmed the news in an interview with Vulture on Wednesday, June 19. During the interview, Push and Malice opened up about their new song "Birds Don't Sing" featuring John Legend, which premiered during Louis Vuitton's Spring/Summer Fashion Show in Paris on Tuesday. Malice came up with the idea for the song during a discussion with the album's producer Pharrell Williams.
"I think the album shows the supreme maturation of a rap duo," Pusha T said about the upcoming LP.
"I think this is where you get the difference between taste and filler," he continued. "This music is curated. This is a high taste-level piece of work. You can only have that level of taste when you have the fundamentals down to a science. I think it’s been definitely missing. Then there’s the competitive aspect."
"This is smart basketball," Malice added. "It’s fundamentals. And not only that, it’s authenticity. It’s what rap should look like if you’re real about your craft, real about your experience, real about your storytelling. It’s bringing the fans along to see the growth, not trying to fit in or fabricate. It just seems like in other genres of music, they have the luxury of growing. For some reason, we act like we’re not supposed to evolve. This is what the true evolution of the Clipse looks like. It’s just good to be able to show that and still have high-level raps."
Clipse's fifth studio album comes 15 years after they dropped their previous LP, Til The Casket Drops. After they went their separate ways, both artists launched their respective solo careers and released a handful of albums. Pusha received two Grammy nominations for Best Rap Album thanks to his 2019 LP Daytona and his latest album It's Almost Dry. His brother, who previously went by No Malice, dropped two solo albums and released a memoir. They recently reunited on several tracks like Ye's "Use This Gospel" off his Jesus Is King album, Nigo's "Punch Bowl" and Pusha T's "I Pray For You."
The duo said the album isn't just a collection of songs they slapped together. They said it's "cohesive material" that's on a "level of meticulousness that a Clipse fan looks for." Clipse didn't comment on any other collaborators who might be involved with the project. They also didn't confirm the album's title or release date.
Clipse ended the interview by reacting to Kendrick Lamar's mention of him on his recent diss track aimed at his foe Drake. On "euphoria," K. Dot raps, "F**k all that pushin' P, let me see you push a T/You better off spinnin' again on him, you think about pushin' me/He's Terrence Thornton, I'm Terence Crawford, yeah, I'm whoopin' feet."
"Incredible," Push said. "Incredible display. Incredible display of battle raps. Listen man, Kendrick..."
"It was a master class," Malice concluded.