Twenty-three years after their debut album, Clipse performed at the Grammy Awards for the first time on Sunday night, with longtime collaborator Pharrell Williams by their side. The duo — brothers Pusha T and Malice — performed “So Far Ahead” with Williams.
The song showcased Clipse’s trademark lyrical agility with Pusha T and Malice, blending old-school grit with the perspective of two of rap’s most seasoned veterans. The ethereal performance saw the trio backed by the Voices of Fire choir fitted in Louis Vuitton robes and bathed in blue light. As they closed out their set, snow drifted across the stage and audience. It was a celebratory moment for Clipse. The Virginia Beach legends took home their first Grammy award for Best Rap Performance for “Chains & Whips” earlier in the night.
Last year’s universally acclaimed Let God Sort Em Out, the duo’s first album in 16 years, earned Clipse five Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year and Best Rap Album. “This one is for the fans, those that waited around, those that were looking to see if we would ever come back and do music together,” Malice told Rolling Stone last year.
After 2009’s Til the Casket Drops, Malice stepped away from rap, while Pusha T built a formidable solo career. It took Williams, the legendary producer who first convinced them to form a duo back in Virginia Beach, to orchestrate a proper return.
Let God Sort Em Out has been widely praised as both a successful reunion and a bold creative statement. Produced entirely by Williams and featuring heavyweight guest appearances from Nas, Kendrick Lamar, and John Legend, the album fuses Clipse’s raw storytelling with polished, contemporary production. Songs like the introspective “The Birds Don’t Sing,” which addresses themes of loss and resilience, and lead single “Ace Trumpets,” helped anchor the project’s narrative and artistic thrust and made it land at the top of Rolling Stone’s Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2025.
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Malice’s verse on the album’s opening track, “The Birds Don’t Sing,” draws from a conversation with his father shortly before his death. “We were sitting in the car,” Malice told Rolling Stone in 2024. “And I asked him, ‘What do you think about me rapping again?’ He said, ‘Son, I think you’ve been too hard on yourself. You still have to get out here in this world. You still got to take care of your family.’”
When Rolling Stone asked whether it would be another 16 years before we hear from Clipse again, Malice was emphatic: “No way. Listen, we just got here, man. There’s plenty more.”
