After 15 long years, Clipse — the acclaimed rap duo of brothers Pusha T and No Malice — are officially working on a brand new album, and they’ve enlisted Pharrell to produce the whole thing.
The announcement was made in an interview with Vulture, which was published just after the two debuted the John Legend-assisted track “Birds Don’t Sing” at Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton Paris Fashion Week runway show. “I think the album shows the supreme maturation of a rap duo. I think this is where you get the difference between taste and filler,” Push said. “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.” Malice described the upcoming record as “smart basketball,” “fundamentals” and “authenticity,” adding, 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.” He continued,” 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 also touched on having Pharrell produce the album in its entirety, promising that the record will have “the level of meticulousness that a Clipse fan looks for” and not “just a collection of joints we went in and banged out.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the pair also very briefly addressed Kendrick Lamar’s namedrop of Push on “euphoria,” his diss track aimed at Drake. “Incredible. Incredible display. Incredible display of battle raps,” Push said, with Malice adding, “It was a master class.”
