Pusha T Reflects on Clipse Having to ‘Kiss So Much Ass’ Before Grammy Win

Pusha T says Clipse’s first Grammy came with a year of campaigning, appearances and playing the awards-season game harder than fans may have realized.

Pusha T is looking back at the work behind Clipse’s 2026 Grammy win, admitting that the duo spent much of the previous year making themselves available to the Recording Academy. During a September 3 appearance on The Breakfast Club, Push reflected on the five nominations earned by the brothers’ comeback album, Let God Sort Em Out, and the one trophy they ultimately took home.

“I wanted them all,” Pusha said of the five nominations before adding that coming home with one was still meaningful. He then joked about the awards campaign itself: “You kiss so much ass the whole year.” Push continued by explaining that artists have to show up wherever the Academy wants them and actively campaign for recognition.

That campaign ended with Clipse winning Best Rap Performance for “Chains & Whips,” their collaboration with Kendrick Lamar and Pharrell Williams. The February ceremony marked the duo’s first Grammy victory after a comeback that also put Let God Sort Em Out in the Album of the Year and Best Rap Album races.

The five nominations represented a major awards breakthrough for Pusha T and Malice after Clipse returned from a lengthy hiatus. Their first Grammy nomination as a duo dated back to 2003, while Push also collected solo nominations over the years, including a Best Rap Album nod for It’s Almost Dry at the 2023 ceremony.

There was another layer to the night involving Lamar, whose GNX beat Clipse in the Best Rap Album category. Pusha did not sound bitter about the result, saying, “We’ll be back,” while Lamar used his own acceptance speech to salute Clipse as his “brothers” and emphasize hip-hop’s presence on the Grammy stage.

Clipse’s Grammy run followed the 2025 release of Let God Sort Em Out, the brothers’ first studio album together since 2009’s Til the Casket Drops. Produced by Pharrell Williams, the project turned the Virginia duo’s long-awaited reunion into one of the most decorated awards campaigns of their career.

Pusha’s comments make clear that the trophy did not arrive on music alone, at least from his perspective. After decades in rap and a year spent working the Grammy circuit, Clipse finally left the ceremony as Grammy winners, even if Push still has his eye on the awards they did not take home.

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