This Saturday, Sept. 13, the Vatican is hosting a first-of-its-kind “Grace for the World” concert in St. Peter’s Square. The concert will be free to attend in person and streamed live on ABCNews, Hulu and Disney+.
The unlikely team of acclaimed hip-hop and pop producer and songwriter Pharrell Williams and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will co-direct and headline the celebration that will mark the end of the 2025 World Meeting on Human Fraternity.
Just as surprising is the eclectic collection of artists from all over the world performing at the concert, ranging from viral country hip-hop sensation Jelly Roll to Thai singer and K-Pop star BamBam. According to press materials, “The event will represent the culmination of two intense days of spiritual and cultural initiatives, to celebrate the strength of fraternity, offer the world a symbolic embrace, and renew the collective commitment to the protection of Creation.”
Maybe most surprising is the inclusion of Clipse, the Virginia Beach hip-hop duo consisting of brothers Gene and Terrence Thornton (known by the stage names Malice and Pusha T). Pusha T, 48, and Malice, 53, have been around for a long time. The relatively underground duo formed back in 1992 and released their debut album “Lord Willin’” in 2002. They did not release their second album, “Hell Hath No Fury,” arguably their magnum opus, until 2006. Before this year, the last Clipse studio album to come out was “Til the Casket Drops” in 2009.
Their typical subject matter makes their inclusion in a Vatican concert confusing at first glance. Critics and fans most commonly identify Clipse with the “coke rap” subgenre of hip-hop, in which artists rap about the luxurious highs and the destructive lows of selling and distributing cocaine. Before they made it as rap stars, the Thornton brothers dealt crack cocaine. Not exactly standard homily material.
So, why Clipse? Why now?
One reason for their inclusion in “Grace for the World” is likely their friendship and artistic relationship with the concert’s co-creative director and fellow Virginia Beach artist, Pharrell Williams. But beyond this, the Thornton brothers’ story uniquely positions them to represent American hip-hop at the “Grace for the World” concert. Their music combines themes of sin, salvation, truth and authenticity in ways that make their inclusion a testament to the possibilities of redemption.
Until recently, it was unlikely that the duo would ever perform live again, much less at the Vatican. Clipse unexpectedly broke up after 2009’s “Til the Casket Drops” when Malice retired from the group. “At the end of the day, I personally felt misery,” Malice said in a 2011 CNN special on the two brothers.
The money, fame and excess that came with his celebrity ultimately became too much for the rapper. After the sentencing of their manager at the time, Anthony Gonzalez, to 32 years in prison for drug conspiracy, Malice converted to Christianity and pivoted entirely. “Some people call it a come-to-Jesus moment, but this is real transformation,” he told CNN.
The older brother announced that he would henceforth go by “No Malice” and proceeded to release the Christian hip-hop albums “Hear Ye Him” (2013) and “Let the Dead Bury the Dead” (2017). He still rapped about his criminal past on these projects, but his overall message took a profoundly Christian turn.
Conversely, younger brother Pusha T’s post-Clipse solo career embraced the “coke rap” style of their past to greater critical and commercial acclaim. The hip-hop classicist was the president of Ye’s (formerly Kanye West) GOOD Music label from 2015-2022, involving him in some of the most consequential hip-hop projects of the decade and cementing him as one of the best rappers of the 2010s.
While No Malice searched for peace through faith, Pusha T feuded with some of the most powerful players in the rap industry. He beefed with Drake in the 2018 song “The Story of Adidon,” in which he revealed to the world that Drake was “hiding” the fact that he had a child, Adonis, and made multiple vicious accusations that set the tone and background for a 2024 beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. While No Malice preached the Gospel message through his music, Pusha T sounded as if he was trying to turn the most popular rapper in the world into a pillar of salt.
The brothers’ close relationship never publicly wavered, but their careers could not have gone in two more different directions.
And yet, the Thornton brothers are full of surprises. In 2019, they reunited as Clipse on Ye’s “Use This Gospel” with their familiar braggadocio and concision, but with a more spiritual focus.
On “Use This Gospel,” the brothers praise God while reflecting on their sinful pasts. Pusha T opens one verse with the proclamation, “How could He not be the greatest?” but immediately contrasts his proclaimed devotion with the consequences of his sins: “In my bed, under covers when undercovers had raided.” His verse ends, “But who am I to judge? I’m crooked as Vegas,” showing awareness of his shortcomings in a sharp contrast to his typical bravado.
No Malice first matches Pusha in his verse, admitting, “A lot of damaged souls, I done damaged those,” but then he juxtaposes his confession with the hope found on the road to Emmaus:
From the concrete grew a rose
They give you Wraith [a Rolls-Royce model] talk, I give you faith talk
Blindfolded on this road, watch me faith walk
Just hold onto your brother when his faith lost.
The brothers’ history and style allows them to create music that is almost, if not substantively, Biblical: their vocal deliveries have the force and grandeur of a divine pronouncement, and the substance of their writing often finds them trapped in a struggle against guilt and sin.
Their music exposes the hypocrisy and fakeness of their peers with jarring clarity while wrestling with their own inability, or unwillingness, to fully escape it, yearning for redemption. The contrast between No Malice and Pusha T especially allows them to explore the difficult push and pull of this conflict.
This dynamic came full circle on their 2025 comeback album and masterclass on maturing in hip-hop, “Let God Sort Em’ Out.” Malice dropped the “No” from his name, signaling a return to form for the duo. Recorded at the Louis Vuitton headquarters in Paris, this is a triumphant comeback for Clipse.
The brothers have not missed a beat in their ability to rap over a Pharrell production with lyrics detailing their luxurious lifestyles (on “P.O.V.,” Pusha spits, “The only Audi here is driven by my au pair”) and mastery of moving cocaine (on “M.T.B.T.T.F.,” he brags, “The Bezos of the nasal, that’s case closed”). But beneath the veneer of the luxury and drug raps, what unfolds over the course of 13 tracks is an Old Testament prophet-style corrective for the music industry coupled with sincere spiritual reflection.
The album opens at an emotional high with “The Birds Don’t Sing,” a devastatingly touching tribute to the brothers’ recently deceased parents. Pusha T takes the first verse to recount his last conversation with their mother, and Malice follows with a verse about his last conversation with their father, who died just months after their mother.
The duo builds a heartbreaking contrast. Pusha T despairs, “Some experience death and feel numbness, / But not me, I felt it all and couldn’t function.” He further laments, “Our last conversation, you was against it…I heard what I wanted to hear but didn’t listen,” recalling his neglect of his mother’s advice as he was caught up in his life of rap stardom while she was preparing to die: “See, you were checking boxes, I was checking my mentions.”
On the same track, Malice presents his last conversation with their father as the resolution to his internal struggle over whether or not to make secular music again as part of Clipse:
I can hear your voice now, I can feel your presence
Asking, “Should I rap again?”, you gave me your blessing
The way you spelled it out, there’s an L in every lesson
“Boy, you owe it to the world, let your mess become your message.”
Throughout the rest of the album, Clipse does just this. Like Amos or Isaiah, they call out others with searing clarity for their failures to remain faithful to their culture; like David, they wrestle with sin and repentance; and also like the psalmist, they ultimately give thanks in their poetry on the aptly named final track, “By the Grace of God,” reflecting on their almost-miraculous journey.
The Thornton brothers may not be saints, but their unique legend makes them, in some ways, the perfect hip-hop representation for Saturday’s Vatican performance. For many, the Jubilee event will be their first introduction to the Thornton brothers. As Malice and Pusha T once told us, “keys” do in fact “open doors.”
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