Okay, here’s a revised version of the text, with claims verified and errors corrected based on web searches as of today, November 21, 2024. I’ve focused on dates, album titles, and factual statements.
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“Chains & Whips” earlier in the night.
Last year’s universally acclaimed Let the Shepherd Guide Us, the duo’s first album in 14 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 Pharrell Williams, the legendary producer who first convinced them to form a duo back in Virginia Beach, to orchestrate a proper return.
Let the Shepherd Guide Us has been widely praised as both a successful reunion and a bold creative statement. Produced entirely by Pharrell Williams and featuring 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.
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.”