Pusha T and No Malice have reunited as Clipse for their first album in 15 years, Let God Sort ‘Em Out.
In a new interview with GQ, the two brothers talk in depth about impending project, why they left Def Jam Recordings and their current standing with Kanye West. Pusha T and West once had a flourishing collaborative relationship. In fact, Pusha T was named president of West’s label, G.O.O.D Music, in 2015 and West produced several of Pusha T’s albums, including 2016’s Daytona.
But in the years since, West has gone on what appears to be a self-sabotaging mission, declaring himself a Nazi and pushing antisemitic rhetoric. Pusha T distanced himself from West and understandably so.
He explained, “We made some great s###, bro. We did. But…let me tell you something. He’s a genius. And his intuition is even more genius level, right? But that’s why me and him don’t get along, because he sees through my fakeness with him. He knows I don’t think he’s a man. He knows it. And that’s why we can’t build with each other no more. That’s why me and him don’t click, because he knows what I really, really think of him. He’s showed me the weakest sides of him, and he knows how I think of weak people.”
Pusha T was impressed by how West handled their financials. In 2020, Push publicly divulged how frustrated he was with major label deals, specifically the splits on his Def Jam contract. As a result, West agreed to give his 50 percent ownership stake in the masters of his own G.O.O.D. Music roster back to the artists themselves.
“The greatest thing he did and why I am OK with where me and him are right now—and I’m cool with staying that way—is because at the end of the day, my truth is my truth, but I still respect what he did in the business,” he added. “And he speaks ill about the music we’ve made and giving me certain records, but the one thing he did give me was all the profits back from the Def Jam deal.”
However, Pusha T also explained why he parted ways with Def Jam—and recently, too. The album was expected to come out last year, but they ran into a snag. When they presented the music to Def Jam (owned by Universal Music Group), the label loved it—except for Kendrick Lamar’s guest verse on the song “Chains & Whips,” the final version of the song that producer Pharrell Williams initially teased at his Louis Vuitton runway show.
But after a summer of beef between Drake and Lamar—two of UMG’s biggest artists—and Drake’s ongoing lawsuit against UMG, Def Jam didn’t like the idea of two of Drake’s biggest enemies putting out a song together, which Pusha called “stupid.” Pusha T, of course, outed Drake for having a “secret” son during their highly publicized beef in 2018 with “The Story of Adidon.”
“They wanted me to ask Kendrick to censor his verse, which of course I was never doing,” he said. “And then they wanted me to take the record off. And so, after a month of not doing it, Steve Gawley, the lawyer over there was like, ‘We’ll just drop the Clipse.’ But that can’t work because I’m still there [solo]. But [if] you let us all go… ”
Def Jam eventually agreed to release the Clipse and drop Pusha as a solo artist, allowing them to search for a new label. They wound up at Roc Nation.
“It felt good to even see how other labels were buying for the project,” he added. “I think that that synergy, just in a rap sense, is going to speak volumes.”
Let God Sort ‘Em Out arrives on July 11. Find the first single, “Ace Trumpets,” below.
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