For over 15 years, brothers Pusha T and Malice, also known as the duo group Clipse, have gone without releasing an album. This was until July 11, when they released their fourth studio album, “Let God Sort Em Out.”

Since its release, the album has reached mass success, including a #4 debut on the Billboard 200, a #1 spot on the Independent Albums Chart, and their biggest streaming week ever, gaining over 77 million streams. They also placed first place on the Billboard Vinyl Albums Chart.

However, they didn’t stop there. On Sept. 13, the duo group performed one of the songs from their latest album, “The Birds Don’t Sing,” at the Vatican during the “Grace for the World” concert in St. Peter’s Square, which made them the first-ever hip-hop act to perform there. Previously, artists such as Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, and Andrea Bocelli have performed at the Vatican.

On top of that, the album also gained varying amounts of positive critical acclaim, including a four-star review from Rolling Stone and a five-star review from The Guardian, with the publication even labelling it as the Album of the Year, as well as a 10/10 rating from Anthony Fantano, a prominent online music critic. Of the thousands of albums he has reviewed, only 88 albums have received a 10/10 rating.

With 13 tracks, “Let God Sort Em Out” explores many different themes throughout each song. Opening with “The Birds Don’t Sing,” which features John Legend and Voices of Fire, the song details the passing of their parents. 

In the first verse, Pusha T talks about their mom and how he wished he had listened to her words and advice more, while in the second verse, Malice talks about their father, what he’s done for them, and their final moments together. This song does a great job of portraying one of many themes of the album: memory.

The next two songs, “Chains & Whips” and “P.O.V.,” both follow the theme of criticism, with “Chains & Whips” focusing on criticising those acting like him when he was younger, while “P.O.V.” focuses on the criticism of rappers who don’t take the genre seriously. In “Chains & Whips,” we hear the first instance of the statement “this is culturally inappropriate,” the main motif in the album. The statement references how the artists go against popular culture and doing it the hard way. It also references how Pusha T and Kendrick Lamar having a history of going against the grain and being culturally inappropriate.

Additionally, “Chains & Whips” references the struggles Pusha T overcame to become as successful as he is. According to an annotation on Genius, “Pusha T, an African-American man, has risen to exceptional levels of wealth, power, and success. He’s claiming he overcame systemic/structural racism by accumulating wealth—in this case Whips (cars) and Chains (jewelry).” With the features of Kendrick Lamar on “Chains and Whips” and Tyler, The Creator on “P.O.V.,” these two songs go hand in hand and compliment each other really well.

“So Be It” and “Ace Trumpets” both mainly reference the duo’s past in drug dealing, while also mocking and dissing fellow artists such as Kanye West and Travis Scott, with the diss of Scott coming out more significantly. In 2023, Scott interrupted a session in Pharrell Williams’ studio to promote his album Utopia, which then prompted the duo’s diss against him. In “So Be It” and “Ace Trumpets,” we hear our next mention of the motif. In “So Be It,” it’s used to describe the Arabic style Gamelan percussion music they are sampling. “Ace Trumpets” was the first mention of it, when it was released as a single, referencing the same thing as “So Be It.”

Compared to the rest of the album, I would rank these two the lowest. Despite their interesting style that played well into the themes, there isn’t a lot that really pops out in these songs. Even though these two are my least favorite, I still would rate them incredibly high, which goes to show that this album is really consistent in quality.

In “All Things Considered,” we see the continuation of the theme of memory, with one of the opening lines saying, “My mama cheek, I miss it. I wanna kiss it.” This song is by far my favorite on the album. The lyrics are wonderful and flow perfectly. On top of that, the chorus, which was made by Williams, is done amazingly well and is a nice bridge between the verses.

“M.T.B.T.T.F.,” “E.B.I.T.D.A.,” and “F.I.C.O.” all reference drugs, but more specifically, cocaine. More of a continuation from “Chains and Whips” and “P.O.V.,” before their rise to fame, both Pusha T and Malice were drug dealers. Due to this being a big part of their identity, it’s something that’s shadowed them throughout their careers. “M.T.B.T.T.F.,” also known as “Mike Tyson Blow To The Face,” follows that idea through subtle undertones, as well as referencing Mike Tyson, his hard punches, and that he also took cocaine.

“E.B.I.T.D.A.,” also known as “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization,” also has references to the drug throughout the song. “F.I.C.O.,” in relation to the credit score, has a couple of mentions of drugs throughout the song. “F.I.C.O.” also has mentions of drugs and drug abuse at random points throughout the song. Overall, these three songs, despite being different in style, all fit well together and do a good job of sticking with their themes..

“Inglorious B*stards” and “So Far Ahead” have completely different themes, but in some ways connect between stories. In “Inglorious B*stards,” we hear lyrics that talk about the shortcomings that they faced. 

“My past dealings, although unsavory, ultimately gave me my proverbial soapbox as I stand corrected in word and in deed,” Malice said in a Genius annotation. 

In continuation, “So Far Ahead” could be referring to the outcome of those shortcomings, and how they are flexing things such as their wealth. “So Far Ahead,” despite not having super clear themes or ideas, has turned into one of my favorite songs in the album. In “Inglorious B*stards,” you hear another mention of the motif. In the lyrics prior, Ab-Liva, a feature on the song, talks about diamonds mined in war-torn countries, specifically blood diamonds, a sign of rebellion. It can also be seen as a metaphor for taking the diamonds from his enemies as a symbol of success. It symbolizes Ab-Liva’s guilt for possessing these diamonds, which are deemed culturally inappropriate, with their links to violence and child labor among other human rights violations. 

“Let God Sort Em Out/Chandeliers” does a great job portraying the themes of legacy in hip-hop throughout the song, especially with the feature of Nas, and his first lines of his verse. In his verse, Nas says, “Single-handedly boosted rap to its truest place. F*ck speaking candidly, I alone did rejuvenate Hip-hop into its newest place. Made it cool for Grammy-nominated LPs from previous generation MCs.” In these lines, he references his longevity in the genre, saying he boosted it all by himself, and while also leaving a path for artists of past eras to participate in today’s version of the genre. This is also the last song with the mention of the motif.

“By The Grace of God” finishes off the album, with talks of Pusha T and Malice’s upbringing. The song itself goes into their drug-dealing past and how they escaped being caught numerous times. 

“The fact that we got away with so much was only by the grace of God,” Malice said in a Genius annotation.

As a closing song, “By The Grace of God” takes this role and perfects it. From how the song sounds, it does a great job of sounding similar to the first song, “The Birds Don’t Song,” with styles similar to each other, making the album feel full circle.

Overall, despite its scattered themes, “Let God Sort Em Out” does a wonderful job pushing through multiple ideas into one album. For a 15-year hiatus, to come back with an album of this stature is nothing short of impressive.

The album itself is very eye-catching and interesting in how themes are used throughout the tracklist. Each song holds its own and flows beautifully between each other to create an album of diverse messages. Overall, I would recommend this album to anyone. It’s a must-listen of the 2025 albums, and definitely a contender for album of the year.

Rating: 10/10