MUSIC FLOW · Issue 3
Clipse — “So Be It”
In 2025, Clipse made their presence felt with “So Be It.”
Heading into 2026, it would’ve been wrong not to tip the hat to the Virginia Beach brothers — Gene “Malice” and Terrence “Pusha T” Thornton.
Clipse carried a feel-good kind of charm in 2025 that’s likely to turn into nostalgia sooner than we expect — like finding something we didn’t realize we lost, then wanting to sit with it and savor the moment.
On the production
Pharrell was the seasoning they may have needed, in full control of the production on the hit single, which was released as a music video exclusively on Instagram on June 17, 2025.
Visually
As for the release itself: the visuals felt intentional with the right amount of space to breathe — a braggadocious juxtaposition with elegance.
The “culturally inappropriate” vocal sample, the Saudi Arabian audio theme, and a video that ultimately feels like a mish-mash of great 20th-century cinematic directors — Hitchcock, Kubrick, even flashes of Tarantino’s Sin City — in a way that works.
Stepping back
To some (including me), it’s not perfect — but what is? And honestly, it feels perfect for them, and that’s what matters.
Worth noting
Earlier this year, I went down the Clipse rabbit hole — interviews, backstory, how it all came together. The story of Clipse themselves — and this song — deserves far more space than this format allows.
So be it.
Then watch this right under it:
Their NPR Tiny Desk Concert is exactly what it should be — intimate, authentic, and proof they’ve been doing this for a long time. Clipse sounding like Clipse, live and locked in.
Set list: “Virginia,” “Keys Open Doors,” “Momma I’m So Sorry,” “Chains & Whips,” “Birds Don’t Sing,” “Grindin’.”