Clipse Reunion Album Breaks Beyond Rap Lists in 2025’s Best Rankings

The album cover for “Let God Sort Em Out,” Clipse’s first full-length release since 2009, produced entirely by Pharrell Williams and cited among 2025’s most critically praised albums.

In a year crowded with releases chasing novelty, "Let God Sort Em Out" arrived doing something rarer: reminding hip-hop what endurance sounds like.

Sixteen years after their last full album, Virginia Beach brothers Pusha T and Malice returned as Clipse with a project that didn’t posture as a comeback or plead for relevance. Instead, it spoke with the confidence of artists who never left the conversation — only waited for the right moment to reenter it on their own terms.

Released in July and produced entirely by Pharrell Williams, "Let God Sort Em Out" quickly emerged as one of the year’s most critically respected rap albums, earning placement on multiple year-end best-of lists and drawing praise across outlets that rarely agree on hip-hop’s direction. Rolling Stone included the album among its Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2025, while the Associated Press cited the project’s lyrical precision and restraint as a standout in a year heavy on excess.

The recognition mattered — but not because Clipse needed validation. It mattered because the album landed at a moment when lyricism, structure and patience felt endangered. Rather than chasing trends, the brothers leaned into what time had sharpened: Pusha T’s surgical economy, Malice’s spiritual clarity and a chemistry that still snaps with the tension of lived experience.

The album does not attempt to rewrite Clipse’s past. It extends it. Tracks like “Ace Trumpets” and others across the record balance menace with reflection, street memory with consequence. Where earlier Clipse albums thrived on claustrophobic minimalism, "Let God Sort Em Out" breathes — not softer, but wiser. Pharrell’s production stretches without diluting, allowing space for confession, warning and triumph to coexist.

How “Let God Sort ’Em Out” Ranked in 2025

Clipse’s “Let God Sort ’Em Out” didn’t dominate the year through hype cycles or streaming stunts. Instead, it earned sustained recognition through critical consensus across both hip-hop–focused and mainstream publications.

Rolling Stone
Included in Rolling Stone’s Best Rap Albums of 2025 coverage, citing the album’s restraint, veteran clarity, and refusal to chase trends.

The Guardian
Selected in The Guardian’s Top Albums of 2025 Readers’ Poll (All Genres), marking one of the year’s few hip-hop releases to cross into its broader year-end recognition.

Associated Press (AP)
Included in AP’s Best Music of 2025 roundup, highlighting the album’s lyrical discipline and composure in a year dominated by excess.

HotNewHipHop
Listed among the outlet’s Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2025, described as a “measured, powerful return” balancing legacy with maturity.

Metacritic
Metascore: 83, reflecting strong critical consensus across aggregated reviews.

Editor’s note: Rankings and inclusions reflect verified listings available at press time. Placements vary by outlet methodology and may evolve as additional year-end lists publish.

Critics responded accordingly. HotNewHipHop called the album a “powerful Clipse comeback,” noting how it fused unfiltered street perspective with earned maturity. The Washington Post highlighted the project’s emotional range — its willingness to confront loss, faith and legacy without sacrificing edge. Across reviews, a consistent theme emerged: this wasn’t nostalgia. It was authority.

That authority extended beyond the music. In a GQ cover story released later in the year, Clipse framed their return as less about reclaiming space and more about redefining it. Pusha T rejected the idea of a creative ceiling, positioning longevity itself as a form of resistance in an industry addicted to erasure.

That ethos was underscored quietly, but symbolically,  recently (see above) when Pharrell gifted Pusha T a Rolls-Royce Spectre Black Badge — a moment documented across music media and social platforms. The gesture wasn’t spectacle; it was acknowledgment. Of partnership. Of survival. Of a year when Clipse didn’t just reappear, they reminded people why they mattered in the first place.

"Let God Sort Em Out" now stands not only as one of 2025’s most respected rap albums, but as a case study in how veteran artists can reenter the culture without diluting themselves. No gimmicks. No apology tours. Just records built to last.

In a genre obsessed with what’s next, Clipse offered something more disruptive: proof that what’s true still carries weight.