Malice of Clipse has explained his switch back to his original stage name from No Malice.
The Virginia rapper, who reconnected with his younger brother Pusha T on this year's Clipse album, Let God Sort Em Out (the group's first release since 2009), detailed his pseudonym change in the duo's recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Malice changed his name in 2012 during a spiritual breakthrough, three years after Clipse released their third album Til The Casket Drops.
But with the latest Clipse album, Malice went back to where he started, which he explained to THR.
"Since inception, it was Malice, and the theme behind it was I was just attacking these verses maliciously. That’s what the whole name was about," he told the publication.
Malice added that with his "convictions" and "heart change," he wanted to demonstrate "that there was nothing malicious" about him "as far as bringing harm or ill will about anything" — hence the name change to No Malice.
"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," he continued. "I never wanted to try to do Clipse with a little tweak or a little change."
Malice concluded that "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," he said.
In a 2011 interview with the Village Voice, per Billboard, one year before his name change, Malice said he'd gained a "good grasp on what’s important."
"I was chasing all these material things, money, women . . . just looking for fulfillment. Ultimately though, my fulfillment came from my faith," he said.
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