While Pusha T is riding high as an artist on Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint, his Clipse partner-in-crime Malice has been going through a spiritual transformation and announced recently that he will be changing his rap moniker.

In a recent interview with Ruby Hornet TV, the rapper explained that he’s attempting to “clean up a bit” by using a new name to represent the change in his persona.

“I’m not a malicious person, and I don’t really like answering to that,” Malice said. “I know that people that follow the Clipse or follow my music, they know Malice, so I understand that, I get that, but you don’t want to be under any moniker that’s of evil intent, that’s not you.

“I come to more belief that there’s so much power in the tongue,” he continued. “The power of the tongue is life and death, so I believe if you are what you fall under, whether it’s in your subconscious or not. It’s just me trying to clean up a little bit. But I haven’t thought of that name yet. So Malicious is what it is right now.”

Back when Virginia-based duo burst onto the scene in 2002, with their debut Lord Willin’, the Clipse ushered in a hip-hop subgenre fans called “coke rap,” but they weren’t just rapping about it — they were living it.

Their former manager Anthony Gonzalez pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in 2009, and was sentenced to 30-plus years in prison. Now, Malice is consciously changing himself, embracing a new perspective on life, which he talks about in his recently released book, Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind, and Naked.
Apparently, he had a deep religious experience that has forever changed him … and now plans to use the fame he built off “coke rap” to introduce his new beliefs and ideologies.

“When I went through my experience, I wasn’t thinking about music,” Malice explained, adding that while he’s proud of his musical accomplishments, he does not plan to continue glorifying cocaine sales. “The Clipse catalog, it’s a great catalog of music. We were right there with the Neptunes at the height of the whole Star Trak thing in the Clipse, so I’m definitely proud of it. And I’m even more so proud of it, because it has presented me with this platform here. If I had not have had the first platform, I wouldn’t have this platform, so they all play a part with each other.

“It’s about evolving, it’s about growing and nothing stays the same,” he continued. “I would be very much ashamed if I come to you next year the same place I was three years ago. I’m seeing the big picture, and a lot of times we think we’re writing the script, but really, we’re not.”

Malice of The Clipse: The Big Picture from Ruby Hornet on Vimeo.

As reported by BallerStatus

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