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On Wednesday night, Clipse hit the stage at the 2025 ESPY Awards with two decades of hip-hop behind them and one of the most iconic beats in rap history, but the crowd barely moved. Pusha T and Malice, reunited once again, performed “Grindin’” and “Ace Trumpets” at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, and somehow the room stayed quiet, per Sportskeeda.
CLIPSE AT THE @ESPYS 🔥
Pusha and Malice performed “Grindin” and “Ace Trumpets” 🫡 pic.twitter.com/TKRcg1gTli
— ESPN (@espn) July 17, 2025
This wasn't a random reappearance. The Clipse reunion has been building since 2022, starting with Pharrell’s Something in the Water festival and the BET Hip Hop Awards later that year. Their new album, Let God Sort Em Out, has been supported by a flawless rollout that included a COLORS performance, a Tiny Desk concert, and a soulful set on The Tonight Show just the night before the ESPYs.
So when Clipse stepped up on the ESPYs stage with only a DJ behind them, it should have been a moment. But the audience didn’t give them what they earned. A video shared by ESPN the next morning showed a room full of blank faces. One viral comment said it all: “Not 1 person sang along.”
Not singing “Grindin’”? That’s unreal. The beat alone should trigger instinct. Sure, many of the athletes in attendance come from a younger generation, but this is a hip-hop staple. At minimum, someone in that building should have been mouthing the words or nodding along like they knew what they were witnessing.
Some said the venue wasn’t right. That’s a fair point. But you can’t separate hip-hop and sports. Athletes walk into arenas with these songs in their ears. These are the tracks that score championship moments and comeback stories. The ESPYs stage should have welcomed Clipse like family.
A Moment Beyond the Applause
Just 24 hours earlier, Clipse gave a touching performance on The Tonight Show. Instead of a high-energy banger, they chose “The Birds Don’t Sing,” a tribute to their late parents. Behind them, the screen showed photos of their mother, Mildred Thornton, and father, Gene Elliot Thornton Sr. It was heartfelt, personal, and delivered with the raw vulnerability that has defined their best work.
So even if the ESPYs crowd didn’t rise to the occasion, Clipse still made their mark. They gave the room greatness, even if most didn’t realize it.
Anyone lucky enough to have heard “Grindin’” live that night witnessed history, whether they acted like it or not.
