Pusha T has everyone on pins and needles while waiting for his highly-anticipated LP, Darkest Before Dawn. Sitting with MTV, the rapper deconstructs the album according to each line dropped in on the album, basically, more recent songs released.
Read all the excerpts below.
“Still wishing on a star,” he rhymed on “Untouchable.” “The last one to find out that Baby owns the cars.” Then, on “M.F.T.R.” he takes another jab at Cash Money Records: “You ask me, Tyga lookin’ like a genius.” The lyrics have had people speculating about a beef, but thankfully, Pusha’s here to clarify.
“People be misconstruing my Tyga line,” he told MTV News, confirming that it was about YMCMB and not Kylie Jenner. “The Tyga line was…I thought it was a ballsy move for him. At the time, he was leaving a label with so much greatness associated, record sales and everything associated with them. He was like, ‘I’m not making no money. I’m outta here.’ So, when I say, ‘You ask me, Tyga looking’ like a genius,’ that’s how I feel. That’s how I felt about it. Some people would sit in a rut. He was like, ‘Nah, I’m out. Forget it.’”
On the production.
“Everybody on this album is a hit maker,” Push told MTV News on the set of his “M.P.A.” music video. “They’re known for these big, grandiose hits. But, what people don’t understand is that, me personally, I prefer dark music. I prefer music that’s more street oriented. These guys have all made great records like that, that are probably more my favorites than the ones that are their Top 5 hits.”
“Timbaland brought the unorthodox puzzles of beats,” he explained. “I look at all of his beats like a puzzle. He just made me rhyme different. I had to really follow his drum patterns and really navigate my way through his beats.”
On the rhymes.
These producers gave Push street-driven cuts to match his dark lyrics. Why so dark? “I feel like it has a lot to do with my mood these days,” he explained, pointing out that home invasions are popular around this time of year. “It could be the seasons. It’s winter time. It’s big coat weather. You gotta be careful. Holidays are supposed to be a fun time, but at the same time, holidays are a dangerous time where I’m from.”
While the Cash Money lines have caused some controversy, Pusha’s ready to let the rap game have it with another cut on this project, “Crutches, Crosses, Caskets (All I See Is Victims).”
“It’s just my perspective on the rap game,” he said of the track, calling himself a “rap superhero.” “Priorities are a little bit skewed in the rap game. I feel like rappers seem victimized these days and I just jumped at that energy.
“You hear the stories of the bad business,” he continued. “I feel like, when I was coming up, my rap heroes were everything to me. I really wasn’t watching Spider-Man. I was watching Eric B and Rakim. They had all the freshest clothes, all the freshest jewelry and they rapped. I wanted to be everything like them. These days, I feel like it’s a soap opera. These guys are spilling their guts, pouring their hearts out so much, that I don’t see how the fans admire a lot of it.”
Read the entire interview here.
