It turns out that the first new Clipse single in 16 years does not open with the line "yellow diamonds look like pee-pee." Yesterday, the all-time great Virginia Beach rap duo unveiled to cover art and release date for their long-awaited reunion album Let God Sort Em Out. A day earlier, they teased the impending release of "Ace Trumpets," that LP's first single. In the teaser, there's a dramatic rising drone, and then Pusha T comes crashing onto the track with that line about his jewelry resembling urine. Today, "Ace Trumpets" is out, and its first line is not that one. Instead, it's Pusha saying, "Ballerinas doin' pirouettes inside of my snow globe/ Shopping sprees in Soho" -- a very Clipse line. The bit about the yellow diamonds is on there, though.
"Ace Trumpets," if you didn't already know, is our first taste of one of the most anticipated rap records in a very long time. Pusha T and his brother Malice have a sterling track record together, and they've been performing together and promising a reunion album for a while. The duo's old comrade Pharrell Williams produced all of Let God Sort Em Out, and they recorded it at Louis Vuitton headquarters in Paris; Pharrell is the company's creative director of menswear. Clipse have historically done one thing extremely well, and they are back to doing that thing like they never left.
"Ace Trumpets" is nasty. Pharrell's beat doesn't sound much like classic Neptunes. Instead, it's an epic boom-bap honk, with buzzing keyboards and Spanish guitar flourishes. Pusha and Malice both sound cold and imperious. Malice's verse is a real masterclass. He sticks with the same rhyme scheme throughout and announces his return to form: "Listen, you are not I/ Cross T's, dot I's/ I done disappeared and reappeared without a 'voila.'" This album is going to be so good. Listen below.
Let God Sort 'Em Out is out 7/11 via Roc Nation.
