Old School Is The New School: Clipse Goes Big With Grammys, Coachella, Major Tour

“We got one!” Pusha T and Malice—collectively known as Clipse—were stuck in rehearsals when their co-manager Kevin McMullan rushed to the Crypto.com Arena stage to tell them they’d just won their first Grammy. The Virginia Beach-bred brothers were nominated for five trophies at the 68th Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for Let God Sort ‘Em Out, and ultimately walked away with Best Rap Performance for “Chains and Whips” featuring Kendrick Lamar and Pharrell Williams. 

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“I ran up and hugged Pusha, hugged Pharrell, hugged Malice, and I was like, ‘We got one! We got one!’” McMullan recalls. “My partner Alex [DePersia] was on FaceTime as well. It was just a good, chaotic moment. The funny thing is we were celebrating so much and they were so happy to have won, they didn’t even ask which one they won. Maybe 90 seconds in they were like, ‘Wait, which one was it?’” 

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It was the exclamation point on Clipse’s blistering return to the spotlight, one nearly two decades in the making. Few groups have gone on hiatus for 16 years and had a comeback like Clipse. But the Thornton brothers have proven it’s never too late to realize a creative vision and execute it at an elite level.

After their debut album, Exclusive Audio Footage, was shelved by Elektra Records, they returned with Lord Willin’ in 2002 via The Neptunes’ label, Star Trak Entertainment, and Arista Records. Anchored by the hit singles “Grindin” and “When the Last Time,” the album shot to No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and began their ascent to rap infamy. Prior to Let God Sort ‘Em Out, Clipse hadn’t released an album since 2009’s Til the Casket Drops. For Malice, who had more or less disappeared while Pusha T voraciously pursued his solo career, the Grammy win validated their return. 

“It’s been 24 years since we came into the game,” Malice says. “Our first Grammy nomination was with Justin Timberlake for (2002’s) ‘Like I Love You’ and we got five Grammy nominations this time. To actually land one, it’s just amazing. It was very surreal and made everything all worth it.” 

Rumblings of a Clipse reunion began in 2022 and ramped up the following year, when a new song was included in the soundtrack for the Louis Vuitton Men’s Spring-Summer 2024 Show curated by their longtime collaborator Pharrell Williams (Vuitton’s Men’s Creative Director). Pusha had stayed visible with solo albums like 2018’s Daytona and 2022’s It’s Almost Dry, but Malice was laying relatively low—until then. He had been watching from the sideline as his younger brother thrived and continued to build the legacy they started. To wind up with a Grammy after so much time away is not something he takes for granted. 

“I stand on the music,” he says. “I stand on all the blood, sweat and tears that we put into it. I love how it was accepted. It was definitely a warm welcome. I felt like I was right where I was supposed to be. Sitting out for so long and coming back, all eyes are on you. People want to see exactly what you’re bringing to the table and if it can stand the test of time. I think it has superseded a lot of what’s going on currently. I was very proud of that.” 

Indeed, Pusha T and Malice had to endure unimaginable pain to deliver Let God Sort ‘Em Out. Their mother, Mildred Thornton, died in Nov. 2021 and their father, Gene Elliott Thornton, followed just four months later in March 2022. Losing a parent is soul-crushing at any age but losing both so close together is enough to wreck anyone. But the brothers were able to lift each other up when the weight became too much to bear. Coupled with an unexpected jump from Def Jam Recordings, Pusha T’s longtime label home, to Roc Nation, the road to redemption was a little bumpy, but it gave them the runway to perfect the album’s rollout. 

“I feel like our hiccups kind of allowed us to gather materials that we needed and hunker down and really focus on the assets and the videos,” McMullan says. “We really weren’t sitting idle at any point.  We obviously would have liked to have gone sooner and plans shifted quite a few times, but with the shift came the advantage of being able to have everything locked and loaded.” 

On the night of the Grammys, which included Clipse’s spectacular performance of “So Far Ahead” alongside Pharrell Williams, the Voices of Fire choir and snowfall, Malice pulled his brother aside to commend his strength and perseverance. 

“I told him how proud I was of him and his accomplishments, and just how he held true to the integrity of himself and hip-hop,” Malice recalls. “This is a filthy game. The fact he has always held his head up and overcame, I attribute a lot of that to how we were raised. To see him stay true to that and not turn to these snake-like tactics, his restraint and how he doesn’t even voice the things that go on behind the scenes—we always weather the storm—made me proud to be able to come back into Clipse because it has been upheld perfectly for so long.” 

Clipse spent a week in Los Angeles leading up to the Grammys; they performed at Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy gala, participated in a Grammy Museum Q&A, appeared at the 4th Annual Recording Academy Honors presented by the Black Music Collective, spoke at the Billboard’s House of Hits and performed a show The Palladium. Admittedly exhausted, they now have a few days back in Virginia to recoup before prep for even bigger things ahead: a massive European tour opening for Linkin Park. 

Produced by Live Nation, Clipse will join the “From Zero World Tour” May 29 with stadium plays at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion, Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium, Lyon’s Groupama Stadium, Madrid and Florence, before wrapping up on June 30 at Zürich’s Stadion Letzigrund. The run also includes fest plays at Germany’s Rock am Ring and Rock am Park (see page 68) and Portugal’s Rock In Rio Lisboa.

Creative Arts Agency’s Mac Clark, one of Clipse’s agents, is laser-focused on audience expansion, as evidenced by Clipse’s appearance at Deftones’ Dia de los Deftones Festival last November. 

“In both the Linkin Park and the Deftones opportunities, it gives us a chance to help broaden the audience,” Clark says. “It also speaks to how Clipse are respected throughout the industry and not just within the hip-hop community. We’re having conversations with other rock bands about them. That says a lot culturally about how people see them, who they touch and how they shift marketplaces. This gives them an opportunity to penetrate into a marketplace via a genre and a band that obviously has a large following. These are stadium shows, so it’s a big deal.”

It’s not lost on Malice nor Pusha T either. When the tour was brought to the table, their first reaction was, “Holy shit, this is so cool!” 

“Linkin Park, stadiums and overseas, you can’t beat being in front of those crowds with such a legacy act,” Malice says. “Linkin Park is next level. They have a love for hip-hop, and they’ve always shown it. The whole Collision Course album [with Jay-Z]…you can just keep going. And everybody knows Mike Shinoda gets busy. They love hip-hop, so for that opportunity to be brought to us, it was amazing.” 

Historically, rap and rock hybrids have intersected in a way that have had explosive results. Run-DMC’s collaboration with Aerosmith in 1986, “Walk This Way,” peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and, in the process, reinvigorated Aerosmith’s then-foundering career. Public Enemy and Anthrax teamed up for a “Bring the Noise” remix in 1991, Ice-T and Slayer linked up for “Disorder” for the “Judgment Night” soundtrack in 1993, Limp Bizkit and Method Man dropped “N 2 Gether Now” in 1999 and Linkin Park (in addition to the Jay-Z collaboration) and The X-ecutioners joined forces for “It’s Goin’ Down” in 2002. With Clipse and Linkin Park, it could signal a rock-rap renaissance, especially in the festival space. 

Clark senses the shift, too. It came up recently in a conversation with Wu-Tang Clan, another CAA client. “The soundtrack for ‘Judgment Night’ blended hip-hop and heavy rock bands,” Clark says. “Wu-Tang are going back out on another tour, so we’ve been trying to come up with a concept. Even going back to the early ‘90s, there’s always been these parallels between hip-hop and rock. I think these bands have always been open to the idea that this could be something cool, and we’re seeing that.” 

Clipse is among a roster of veteran hip-hop artists and pioneers and architects of the culture who are basking in a career resurgence. Revered MC/producer Erick Sermon of the golden era hip-hop group EPMD, who released his latest project Dynamic Duos Vol. 1 in August, largely credits Clipse for blowing the doors wide open for other legacy acts to follow. From Nas’ “Legend Has It Series…”, which yielded albums from Slick Rick, De La Soul, Nas and DJ Premier, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and Big L, to giant runs like Wu-Tang’s “Final Chamber Tour” to Clipse’s own “Let God Sort ‘Em Out Tour,” classic hip-hop is back in a monumental way (see page 42). 

A look at Clipse’s recent touring data from Pollstar’s Boxoffice Reports over the last year bear this out. On Sept. 9 amidst their “Let God Sort ‘Em” tour with opener Earthgang at Chicago’s Salt Shed, the duo grossed $287,167 playing before 3,801 fans with tickets ranging from $70-$100; on Aug. 9
EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia, they brought in $353,819 selling 6,023 priced from $50-$90. Before that, the previous headlining report on Clipse dates to Aug. 2009 paying Boulder, Colorado’s Fox Theatre and grossing $7,878 before 383 people. What a difference a decade and a half and a critically-acclaimed Grammy-winning album make. 

“To me, Clipse opened the floodgates worldwide,” Clark says looking at old-school hip-hop’s current resurgence. “I’m not going to say they are solely responsible for it, but they elevated it, put it on more for the mainstream and put more eyes on it.” 

Malice, a massive EPMD fan (who formed in the 1980s on Long Island), is flattered by the notion Clipse jump-started a classic hip-hop renaissance, saying, “I used to pattern my rhymes after EPMD, so to have it come full circle from someone who inspired you coming up in the rap game, for them to show us the same kind of respect is just a great feeling.” 

That respect was palpable at Davis’ pre-Grammy party, too, and was yet another reminder of Clipse’s seismic impact. 

It’s an exciting time for hip-hop, a genre once labeled as nothing more than a fad. Not only has it endured the test of time, but it’s also continued to evolve in unforeseen ways and, by the looks of it, is getting back to its roots. 

“Hip-hop has influenced every genre of music,” Malice says. “I’m sitting there at the Grammys and watching Justin Bieber perform ‘YUKON.’ Listening to those lyrics, it sounded like a great rap and that’s how I recognized it. That was hip-hop, great rap, great lyricism.” Pusha agrees, adding, “I think hip-hop is in a great spot. I feel like people are looking for real raps again. They’re looking for the fundamentals. People have something to say and people are looking for rappers with something to say. I think that it’s gonna make for great music.” 

Clipse will be hitting the festival circuit with a vengeance later this year, with spots already locked in at Lollapalooza, Governor’s Ball, Bonnaroo and All Points East in London. Push and Malice also confirmed a follow-up to Let God Sort ‘Em Out in its early stages though they couldn’t divulge too many details. Clark and McMullan, along with the rest of their team, will be there every step of the way.  

“We joined the party a little bit late, but we are very grateful to be along with them on this ride and have the ability to be stewards of their business as we continue to break boundaries and create cultural moments and opportunities together,” Clark concludes. “There’s nobody I’d rather do it with given what we’re all seeing and what they mean. It couldn’t happen to two nicer individuals. They’re two of the most down-to-earth, kind and authentic people that I’ve ever been around, so it’s really special what’s happening.”

“It shows you how your art and music is regarded,” Malice says. “When you look around and you see all this A-list talent, if you weren’t aware yourself of who you are, that room tells the story and lets us know we earned our way amongst the greats. It was a legendary time. To get to meet Clive Davis and perform ‘The Birds Don’t Sing’ again with John Legend, a song that means absolutely everything to us honoring our parents, I don’t think it gets any bigger than that.” Push adds, “Performing amongst your peers, it keeps you on your A-game for sure.”