Clipse was formed in 1994 by two brothers: Gene Thornton Jr, aka Malice, and his younger brother Terrence Thornton, aka Pusha T. FFrom the beginning, they’ve worked with producer Pharrell Williams, originally as part of the acclaimed production duo, The Neptunes. But there was a 16-year gap between their third album, which came out in 2009, and their most recent album, Let God Sort Em Out, which came out in July 2025. This November, they were nominated for 5 Grammys, including Album of the Year. They were also nominated for Best Rap Song for “The Birds Don’t Sing.” It’s a song that they made after the death of both of their parents in the span of just a few months. For this episode, I asked Pusha T, Malice, and Pharrell about the making of that song, which also features contributions from John Legend and Stevie Wonder.

You can buy or stream “The Birds Don’t Sing” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
“The birds don’t sing, they screech in pain.” – Werner Herzog

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On September 5, 1973, the first and only Buckingham Nicks album was released. It wasn’t a huge hit, but it was how the world was first introduced to the music of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, before they went on to become members of Fleetwood Mac. Their time together in Fleetwood Mac led to some of the best-selling, most critically acclaimed, and most influential albums of all time. Their individual talents, their musical chemistry together, and the ups and downs of their romantic relationship all eventually became legendary.

And yet, despite all that, the Buckingham Nicks album went out of print not long after it came out. For over 50 years, it wasn’t available, until it finally got re-mastered and re-released in September 2025. So for this episode, I spoke to both Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham about the making of one of the songs from that album, called “Frozen Love.” It’s the only song on the album where they’re credited as co-writers, and it’s the song that led Mick Fleetwood to invite Lindsey Buckingham to join Fleetwood Mac. But Lindsey would only join if Stevie could, too, and that’s how that story began. So this episode is about a beginning and an ending. It’s the story of how Stevie and Lindsey first met, and how they made “Frozen Love,” and how that song really led to the end of their band.

I also want to mention that not only was Buckingham Nicks out of print for all those decades, no one has heard the isolated tracks that you’re about to hear. To make this episode, there was an epic search for the original master tape from Sound City, the studio where they recorded the album with producer Keith Olsen. It took months, but the tape was finally tracked down and digitized, and it feels very special to be able to present this for the first time here, along with the memories and stories from Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

You can buy or stream the remastered album here, and you can buy or stream “Frozen Love” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Gary Hodges – drums
Buckingham Nicks (album)
“California Dreamin” – The Mamas & The Papas
Fritz – members Javier Pacheco (songwriting) and Bob Aguirre (drums)
Chicago, Fillmore West, and Jimi Hendrix
James Taylor and Joni Mitchell
Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations
Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, and “Stairway to Heaven”
Joe Gottfried – owner of Sound City Studios

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