As buckets of rain poured from the sky and flooded the VIP terrace floors, I was able to witness hip-hop royalty slay the Mountain stage. Clipse, the mad duo of brothers Gene “Malice” and Terrence “Pusha T” Thornton, burst onto the stage with “Chains & Whips,” the second track off their fantastic comeback album, Let God Sort Em Out, which came out of nowhere last year.
As the bassy beat thundered, Clipse looked as if they were trying to show each other up—both wearing expensive jackets (Louis Vuitton, of course) and then switching into T-shirts and each wearing three to four luxury, blinged-out diamond chains (easily costing over a million dollars). The luxury swag, rappers-living-in-paradise vibe was quickly conveyed by these legends.
As the show continued, the visual backdrop featured moments in time for the Clipse brothers, like the time a few of their gangster friends were arrested for drug and weapons charges. We saw many of these images: legions of pistols, machine guns and bags of delicious cocaine on a quick slideshow that felt very early 2000s. It was real gangster shit, and hit harder than any hip-hop throwback act of the previous 10 years.
I was taken back to my boom bap discovery days during “Keys Open Doors,” from the 2006 album Hell Hath No Fury and grooved my heart out to “Popular Demand (Popeyes).” We heard a bunch of Let God Sort Em Out, including the closer “The Birds Don’t Sing,” but alas, John Legend did not appear. Clipse are legends, and I’m glad they’re back.
Photos by Tim Snow
