CLIPSE

Their reunion proved that rap isn't just a young man's game

- Simon Vozick-Levinson

It took 16 years, but they did it: Pusha T and Malice, aka Terrence Thornton and Gene Thornton Jr, aka the Clipse, reunited for their first album since 2009 and flipped the world of hip-hop on its head. Let God Sort Em Out, the precisely engineered monument to their own eternal dopeness that the two brothers released in July, breaks many unwritten rules. It’s a lyrics-first project, with more emphasis on verbal craftsmanship than catchy hooks, that nonetheless hit the US Billboard 200’s top five, matching their highest-ever position on that chart, back in 2002; it’s an album of startling maturity and vulnerability from a duo once more accustomed to boasting; and perhaps most of all, it’s a must-listen, endlessly replayable set of songs from two seasoned veterans working in a genre that often prizes youth.