Growing up together in Virginia, brothers Gene Thornton Jr. and Terrence Thornton — a.k.a. Malice and Pusha T, respectively — were surrounded by a large, supportive family. The loyalty and pride they learned in those early days have carried them through more than 25 years of innovative, top-tier rap music as Clipse. Today, Pusha is the proud father of two young sons, while Malice is a grandfather; they continue to hold themselves to a high standard of excellence in everything they do as brothers and musicians. For this special issue celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S., they spoke to us about how important family bonds are to defining American life.
MALICE: For us, the family unit meant everything. Family is the first institution, the first template that makes America. Sticking together, loyalty, looking out for each other — that all starts within the family.
PUSHA T: The differences in cultures, races, and ethics within households — that’s what America is. Growing up, there was our house, our aunt’s house, and our uncle’s house: Uncle Bu Bu and Great-Aunt Willie Mae Jenkins. Their houses were places where everyone would congregate. All the adults play the cards and drink the alcohol and listen to music downstairs, and the kids were upstairs. And don’t come downstairs while the grown-ups are downstairs! You’d have fun and play and fight with your cousins.
MALICE: We’d put together family reunions, just so all of the cousins could know who each other was. Many times you’d bump into a cousin who you didn’t even know was a cousin until the reunion! The elders didn’t want the younger kids walking around not knowing who is who. They tried to keep us together. A lot of our friends, they’re quick to say how our family unit taught them what family should be like. We took it for granted, because it was always there for us.
PUSHA T: I had such a strong family bond within the household that it helped shape what I thought bonding and camaraderie was supposed to look like outside of the household as well. If I could bring some of that loyalty and that energy to my friendships, and if that was reciprocated — I feel like that’s the reason why a lot of our friendships are 30-plus years or more.
MALICE: Our parents were supportive. Whatever we wanted, we had. I said I wanted a drum machine, I had a drum machine. I had a microphone, I had a mixer, I had a turntable set. They were really into giving us everything that we said that we wanted to do. I recall my mom traveling with Pusha for karate. My mom was at all of my basketball games. Wherever our interests lie, they got behind us. And I remember the first record that me and my brother did together, it came so second nature to him. His first time writing a rap — it was just like, “We could do this.”
PUSHA T: I remember when the idea was brought up for me and my brother to be a group, Pharrell was like, “Man, this right here…” To him, the magic was the fact that we were brothers. He started beaming. Since then, we’ve had a lot of highs and lows in our career, but it was definitely easier to go through the lows with my brother. It helped us navigate those tough times. And now, in the higher times for Clipse, our connection is what people are buying into. They can hear it in the music.
MALICE: My mother was a stickler for “Look out for your blood.” You ride with your blood, you take care of each other, you look out for each other. On the other hand, my dad was all about providing and setting up for the future. He was the kind to check homework. That starts the groundwork for being a productive citizen. Now, with our parents being gone, I have to be what my parents were to me. I have to step right into those shoes.
PUSHA T: I had two grandmas growing up. That’s super important. I remember, if I got upset with my parents, I’d be like, “I want to live with my grandma, anyway.” I had that luxury. That’s something that bothered me about the passing of my parents, now that I have kids.
MALICE: My mom was an only child, and it wasn’t until my nephew Nigel was here that I understood why my mom was so close with her cousins. They were cousins, but they were more like brothers and sisters. So with my grandkids and Nigel, I saw how important it was to me that they be tighter than tight, closer than close. Now Nigel has his little brother, and it’s still very important for them to know that we are family. I see a lot of things through the lens of my parents that I didn’t understand at the time.
PUSHA T: Yeah. Looking through their lens, we understand why it was so important. That community.
MALICE: That bond.
