The thing about a Tiny Clipse concert is that, as Virginia natives, it’s a homecoming show for them. So, of course, when Pusha T and Malice hit the NPR Music offices on the same day as the release of their new album, Let God Sort Them Out, they couldn’t just play songs from the new one, like “Ace Trumpets” and “So So Be It.”
Instead, they take a 20-minute cruise through their classic but all-too-short discography, opening with the fitting “Virginia” from their all-star debut album, Mister Willin’ . From there, it’s a trip to the sophomore follow-up Hell Hath No Fury to “Keys Open Doors” and “Momma, I’m Sorry.” They skip to Until the Casket Drops, which kind of makes sense; it was their least popular album and presaged their eventual split, so revisiting it would probably just bring the mood down.
The two songs on Let God Sort Them Out are “Birds Don’t Sing” and the Kendrick Lamar collab “Chains & Whips,” and no other song could make the final cut but “Grindin’,” the joint that introduced them to the world and terrorized school lunch tables across America until 2002 (and probably ever since). A great tidbit from Bobby Carter’s writing in the YouTube caption: “At first, I didn’t know exactly what they were looking for sonically, but it clicked when they told me what they didn’t want: no jazzy versions of their songs.”
No jazz here, guys. Just good old-fashioned Virginia Beach futuristic funk. Check it out at the top.
