Malice Explains Why He Reverted His Stage Name Change For Clipse Reunion

BY Gabriel Bras Nevares 1.8K Views
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Malice Stage Name Change Clipse Reunion Hip Hop News
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 12: Malice of The Clipse Signs Copies Of Their New Album at Legacy Records on July 12, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Joy Malone/Getty Images)
Malice changed his name to No Malice in 2012 on a spiritual journey, but his Clipse reunion with his brother Pusha T needed more fire.

Clipse recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about their incredible year with Let God Sort Em Out and how it felt for brothers Pusha T and Malice to reunite. This interview also addressed one of the most simple but interesting questions around this whole rollout: what happened to No Malice?

For those unaware, Gene Thornton changed his stage name to No Malice three years after the duo's Til The Casket Drops album amid a spiritual journey. But when they came back with LGSEO, he went back to the OG stage name, and he explained this dynamic.

"Since inception, it was Malice, and the theme behind it was I was just attacking these verses maliciously," the Infinite collaborator expressed. He also confirmed that his two solo albums were under No Malice.

"That’s what the whole name was about," Malice continued. "With my convictions and with my heart change over time, I just wanted to show that there was nothing malicious about me as far as bringing harm or ill will about anything. But when my brother and I decided to come back together into the group, I felt like we owed it to ourselves and to the fans to stick with the initial branding. I never wanted to try to do Clipse with a little tweak or a little change. Clipse will always remain Clipse. It’s who we are when we come together and it’s who the fans know it to be, and I wouldn’t want to have that any other way."

Clipse Let God Sort Em Out

Entertainment: Something in the Water Music Festival
Jun 18, 2022; Washington, DC, USA; Grammy award-winning artist Pharrell Williams is joined by guest artists The Clipse and Justin Timberlake during his performance at the Sun Stage during the Something in the Water festival on Saturday, June 18, 2022 in Washington, DC. Mandatory Credit: Jarrad Henderson-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"I really think you’re the first person we’ve talked to who really want to clarify that," he told THR's Kyle Eustice. "I’ve spoken on it, but you’re making it a staple, so I appreciate that."

In a separate Billboard interview, Pusha T spoke on what their album represents as far as hip-hop's age ceiling. "Looking at just competing in music, I’ve never felt like it was a young man’s sport," he reflected. "I always felt like it was a competitor’s sport. As long as you’re competing and you’re living through the times, you should be in it. You have to be in it. You can’t passively be in it."

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.

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