Finally King Push dropped his long anticipated album and its a 7 track masterpiece titled Daytona.For drive,there was the disclosure that Kanye West changed the album cover and paid $85,000 to use pictures of the Whitney Houston death scene a day before the album dropped.Of course that was before Drake released Duppy Freestyle in response to shots fired by Push on the track Infrared.
On this album,Pusha T shows off his stripes in a timeless lyric-driven work that stands him out as a genuine champion of his era.
Massive references to the drug-dealing past in some exquisite lyricism is Push's signature and he gets right to it from the jump on the Kanye West produced If You Know You Know-"This thing of ours/Oh this thing of ours/A fraternity of drug dealers ringin off/I just happen to be alumni/Too legit they still look at me with one eye/The company i keep is not corporate enough".
Push is on the same vibe for the most part but the sheer class with which he does it makes it a non-issue.He is unapologetic and lets you know on the second track, The Games We Play-"This is not for the conscious/Its for the mud-made monsters/Who grew up on the legends from outter yonkers/Influenced by niggas Straight outta Compton/The scale never lies/I'm 2.2 incentivized".
He recruits Rick Ross to tell the scars and gains story on Hard Piano.Push is from a time when people actually rapped and to still make music with as much power as then in 2018 is a testament to genuineness of quality.He is among the very few rappers still left in the game with a legit right to criticize its state.He spits these lines for the archives-"Had to find new ways to invest/'Cause you rappers found every way to ruin pateks/Its a nightmare yeah/I'm too rare amongst all of this pink hair".
The George Jackson and Mighty Hannibal samples on Come Back Baby were genius; a dope boy's triumphant strut.
There has always been a lot of negative talk especially about his elaborate drug-dealing claims.He doesn't help when he tells you-"Where were you when Meech brought the tigers in/I was busy earning my stripes like a tiger's skin".Push was already firm in the rap game and not on the streets then as a member of Clipse and how someone 'earning his stripes' at that point in time would not only claim big but say "the only rapper to sell more dope than me was Eazy-E' whips up some serious doubt.Either way,Push lays his haters response recipe on What Would Meek Do which was originally supposed to feature Meek Mill but had label boss,Kanye West in place of him.Soothing to at least know Kanye understands MAGA hats don't make him any less black.In line with theme,Push spits-"I let the moneys and the fools talk/I let the jewels and the hues talk/Watch face came with a fuse box".Enough said.
He pays an unconventional tribute to his late road manager,Devon 'day' Pickett on what may just be the best song of the album,Santeria.The enormous grit Push employs syncs perfectly with the dejection he feels.And hows 070 Shake's spanish chorus for mood?.
The most talked about song of Daytona is undoubtedly Infrared because on it,Push takes shots at Drake but Infrared is much more than that.Its a lyrical craftsman at his finest.So much so that Drizzy couldn't top these 4 lines in a 3 minute response with the bonus advantage of going last-"Niggas beat is banging/nigga ur hooks did it/The lyric pennin equals the Trumps winnin/The bigger question is how the Russians did it/It was written like Nas but it came from Quentin".Infrared is a culture vulture's doom.Its not only bemoaning the state of the game,its beaming a light on how it should be.
Think again,hip hop may still be gasping for air.Daytona is hope.
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