Takes by the Ocean: Let the Boss Sort Em Out

Who waters the wilting democracy once Social Security dries up and the Boones no longer backflip?

Snowbiz! Malice and Pusha T of Clipse (Photo by Cian Moore)

YES

Clipse, Let God Sort Em Out

Without a yecccch or an ooh in sight, 48-year-old dad Pusha T and 52-year-old grandpa Yes Malice Again take good vs. evil hip-hop to its logical extreme with the absurd spectacle of battling for crack-rap’s soul. By vanquishing feckless targets like Travis Scott and Drake, they juxtapose themselves alongside Kendrick and Nas without tamping down their amoralism: “beat the system with chains and whips.” Not just via “driving the snow like it’s The Revenant” but flaunting their groundbreaking misdeed metaphors and weathering label hell until Push won the presidency of GOOD Music himself, proudly boasting of his taste for weird beats whipped up by the most popular chefs in the game. “They content-create and I despise that” counts as a potent protest these miserable days. So does verbiage like “the writing’s on the wall like hieroglyphics” and the most melodic beats they (or a Pharrell who’s been taking singing lessons) have ever cooked up. Family men who admit their regrets upfront and come out after having “skipped the Oz” with a zest for life (“my third passport / I ain’t seen enough”), no other rappers in history have stuck to their guns like these guys, sometimes really — except when they fumble clearing the Arabic sample. “This is culturally inappropriate,” indeed.