Music
Review
“We’ve been waiting to get here” – Highlights from Clipse’s final London tour stop
Fresh off their five Grammy nominations, the legacy hip hop duo deliver a masterclass in performance and community building
It feels synergistic to be seeing sibling hip hop duo Clipse with my older brother, watching as they riff off one another with the telepathy that only siblings share. Onstage cryptophasia. Each giving each other the chance to shine, Pusha T and Malice appreciate the distinct skillset they individually bring to make Clipse what it is.
It’s the final stop of their Let God Sort Em Out tour, and the air is thick with celebration. “We’ve been waiting to get here,” Pusha T tells the audience, in a moment of pause between a stacked setlist. “Here” in that statement is weighted; “here” as in back on tour, “here” as in back on top, “here” as in at a new peak which includes an Album of the Year Grammy nomination. “Let God Sort Em Out: Album of the Year. Easy!” to which the audience responded, “Easy!”.
There’s a sense of community both on and off stage, as the O2 Academy Brixton is filled with fans of all ages – teenagers with their parents, groups of older rap fans, young people on dates, big groups of friends. This is reflected in the cinematic visuals on-screen behind Clipse as they perform. Images and footage of Black American cultural moments, such as kids playing patty cake before Clipse performed ‘Grindin” and footage of the OJ Simpson trial during ‘So Be It’. ‘MTBTTF’ had various images of Mike Tyson across his career, including the chewed ear of Evander Holyfield, and ‘Inglorious Bastards’ was accentuated with poignant images that read “I am somebody”. Plus, footage of the Louis Vuitton show the pair walked for in 2023, where they debuted the track ‘Chains & Whips’ featuring Kendrick Lamar. It’s clear that their music is on conversation with the world around them, but also, Clipse are both well aware of their place in history and their pop culture resurgence is a testament to that.
The Brixton show on 20 November 2025 fittingly opened with ‘Chains & Whips’, with Pharrell’s unmistakable production booming through the venue as images of the Black Rodeo, Marcus Garvey, life in Virginia, and more played on the screen. Pusha T made his entrance first, performing the first verse of the track with athlete-level breath control (and no backing vocals), setting the pace for the show. Malice entered the stage during his own verse, to an audience gladly accepting his return to the spotlight after years of maintaining a more lowkey profile to focus on his personal growth. Both rappers deliver a masterclass in breath control and stage presence, as they glide from one side to the other, taking time to bask in the applause from an enamoured crowd.
The audience not only hangs on to every word, but raps every word bar for bar. Chants of “Clipse! Clipse! Clipse!” punctuate each song. “Y’all have been through some sh*t with us,” they both say, reiterating that their fanbase is their community who have grown up with them over the years. They honour that with performances of some of their older hits, including ‘Momma I’m So Sorry’, ‘Virginia’, ‘Mr Me Too’ – which features a solo spot for Malice rapping directly to a camera connected to the big screens – and ‘Keys Open Doors’.
“This Is culturally inappropriate,” the motif that permeates through their Let God Sort Em Out album, blasts through the speakers and the energy of the crowd reaches a crescendo. We all know it’s time for ‘Ace Trumpets’, the breakout single from the “Album of the Year!”, they remind us. Their energy is electric, and just as it was for fans listening to ‘Grindin” for the first time in 2002, ‘Ace Trumpets’ at the O2 in Brixton maintained that same sense of “this is part of something big. This is significant hip hop history”.
And while the high-octane delivery and braggadocious demeanour was enjoyable, the standout moment for me was closing track ‘Birds Don’t Sing’. The spellbinding combination of each brother rapping about their deceased parents whilst home movies and childhood photos were projected on the screen allowed for a pause to reflect. Malice’s step away from music was to allow that sense of reflection, and ‘Birds Don’t Sing’ and Clipse return to making music as a duo is renewed by that introspection. I watched them honour their legacy and the hard work of their parents, as I stood with my older brother – whom I’m bonded to by the grief of our departed parent – watching our favourite rappers show us how its done. The crowd sang along passionately to the chorus, reminding us all that Clipse is for the community.
Images by Joseph Okpako/WireImage
