Pusha T Talks With Ebro In The Morning

Pusha T: Click bait bro let's do it baby from New York and on the new hot 97 app.Host: Ebro in the morning on hot 97. Ebro in the morning. Lord Styles, Rosenberg's on assignment. The assignment? Get along with your in-laws on vacation. Push, you're in the building, what's up?Pusha T: Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's get right into it.Host: Come on man, track seven on the new project entitled Daytona out now. Yes, we're gonna play it for the people immediately. Push for the next half an hour here on Ebro in the morning.Pusha T: Okay maybe longer, we're gonna get into album.Host: Yeah, yeah, so you're gonna select cuts. I want to play "Infrared" at least two or three times just to do your thing so people could digest it, but I want to start there even though that's the last song on the album. Okay, I think, and I'm paraphrasing because I don't want to screw up the bars...Pusha T: I said "Oh now it's okay to kill baby" - Oh there you go - "Niggas looked at me crazy like I really killed a baby."Host: That's what it is. And you got to say it in those like inflections. But gotta practice a little bit. The point is that you went at Baby talking about the deal with Wayne and how he's treating Wayne, and you've had many things to say about Drake being signed and sign of this one, sign of that one. When you talk about that Baby line, I want to make that one clear.Pusha T: I was actually speaking about how, you know, when it was, when we were going through that, that time, that issue, how everybody was like "Damn Push, why you saying this, why you saying that, why you doing that?" And then Ross more recently had like a situation where he spoke on it on his album, which you salute him in the following lines. So when you were saying that, I want you to like sort of keep it all in context. So I saluted Ross in the joint saying what he was saying was pure, I respect that. Just showing people like, damn, just a minute ago everybody was like "Yo Push, chill" and then Ross did it and it was like "Yeah Ross, we right about that." Which he was, but it still doesn't get around the remaining or the relevant issue of Baby and the Cash Money/Young Money contracts.Host: Right, right, which Laura you were asking about?Pusha T: Yeah.Host: Because I was like, where... I didn't want to... I didn't remember the root. I remember of course "Mr. Me Too" and that whole Wayne situation. So I was like okay, but I was trying to figure out the root where it all came from, and I was thinking where did Drake jump in?Pusha T: The Drake thing more recently was just about the "Two Birds One Stone" record. A lot of talk about the record or whatever the case may be. Speaking his truth, questioning my validity to the streets and so on and so forth within that verse. It's fine, that's what it was, but if we gonna question things, we need to question them. Now it's my turn to question.Host: And you brought up Quentin Miller and not writing rhymes?Pusha T: 100%. That's my truth as I see it. That's laid out, that's laid out on the table.Host: Obviously people talk a lot about beef, and this doesn't - there's real street beef and this is just music industry people having opinions on the culture and disagreements and business issues that are unresolved, right? Is that what this is or is this really a problem or is this just sparring?Pusha T: When you say really a problem, what do you mean? Like if I see somebody it's gonna be a problem? Man, I see everybody. I stay in the Four Seasons in Toronto all the time. I see everybody, I see all the friends, all the homies, everybody.Host: So this is just rappers doing rapper shit?Pusha T: For sure. In response to "Two Birds One Stone," I feel like he was doing his rapper thing, and it's "Infrared" time so I'm gonna do my rapper thing.Host: The Pusha T album is available. You should go pick this thing up. It's seven solid records, Daytona, it's called Daytona. And we're going to talk about why only seven and we're also going to talk about this Kanye verse. Let's get into it because it's Kanye versus... Let's get into it, let's talk about it, it's important.Pusha T: Let's talk about it.Host: Click bait E-bro.Pusha T: Yeah, let's do it baby. I'm click bait, now you're click bait. You know you click bait, you are so wild. It sounds like your rhymes is click bait, let's get it in, let's go.Host: Click bait bro in the morning. Click bait bro, let's do it baby. It sounds like there's been some talk behind the scenes, man. It's Ebro in the morning. They calling me Click Bait Bro. We call him Click Bait Bro. But were there any falsehoods?Pusha T: No, no, never, never, never. And that's one thing we respect about you Ebro, you talk straight. We respect it. That's why we come up here and you know it's love. And I've known you a long time anyway.Host: My homeboy Rosenberg ain't here though.Pusha T: Yeah, he's with his wife, they in Paris.Host: We didn't know that the album was coming.Pusha T: I sent it to him, I sent it to you first, sent it to him.Host: I'm sure if he knew that the album was coming this fast...Pusha T: He was in graduation, he was about to board a plane. He was like, "Man, make sure I get it before I board this plane."Host: Well we was trying to figure out, I was trying to lock you down. I wasn't sure if you're gonna make it or not. It was a lot of yes, no, yes, no.Pusha T: Make what, the date, this interview?Host: Yes.Pusha T: Why not?Host: That's just planning probably.Pusha T: Yeah, I don't know, not intentional.Host: Why only seven tracks, man?Pusha T: That is definitely a Kanye West question, but I can tell you what I think. That was definitely a big debate between us two. I was like, "Man, I don't feel it should be seven. I feel like I should give people a full portion." He was like, "Man, what's a full portion? Why are you putting constraints on things? You don't think you can get your mind... Push, free your mind, think freely, think freely, no chains, all of that, get off the plantation, Push."Host: Oh, listen. But that, he said pretty much but he wanted to say that, but you would have been like "Who's who's really on the plane then?" Y'all would have gotten something else.Pusha T: So he was just like, "I think you can really get it across in seven." He was like, "Man, I'm just feeling really, I'm feeling really strongly about the seven number man, really think about it, I'm telling you." I'm like, "Man, we got joints, we got a whole bunch of joints, let's give them what they need."Host: So there was definitely other records that didn't make it?Pusha T: Yeah, totally, totally.Host: So there is, when you guys listen to the album if you haven't, we're gonna play some more records. We just played "Infrared," we're gonna play some more. I wonder if Kanye's on his Supreme Mathematics, is that what he's on? Why he wanted to go with seven?Pusha T: I'm gonna agree with that because he definitely said, he definitely told me verbatim, "Yo, it's something about that number seven man, I'm telling you, it's like it's God's number man." He definitely told me that.Host: Well, and we'll get into more of Kanye West too because we got to cover that ground. But I like the seven, I like how it flows. I like how it flows, I like that it's concise, and I also like how sonically the records feel like they belong together, right? In the album, it doesn't sound like a collection of songs, it sounds like this is a theme.Pusha T: 100%. I had to send that master yesterday and we were listening to it, and I had to send that very email like, "Bro, you was right, seven is the way to go."Host: It happens, it happens like that.Pusha T: Super concise. I feel like that was his main objective, to make sure that it was just one sonic mood board that flowed like such. Then you gotta think about it, he literally did beat every beat top to bottom. It's five projects, so it's mine, he's coming on the first and Kids See Ghosts, him and Cuddy coming the 8th, Nas coming the 15th, and I believe Tiana the 22nd.Host: That's 35 joints and he's doing all of these joints.Pusha T: For him, I'm sure it's a little strenuous.Host: Removing whatever political and social commentary disagreements you have with Kanye West, everybody loves the music he produces, facts. And he's contributed a lot to hip-hop, right. And 35 records from the Good Music family in a month, in a month is a large, it's a body of work, it's a treat. And it feels like a movement, was that...Pusha T: Sure, I mean, it's the new and improved version of Good Friday. Like when we were doing the Good Friday thing, it was like...Host: Right, right, right, right.Pusha T: That we're trying to sort of recreate that energy, but didn't know how to do it. Like people have sort of toyed with that theme. Music comes out frivolously every day so it can't really feel like that anymore. We had to sort of find a new way to do it.Host: How much of these records were done recently? How many did you have in the bag? Like what?Pusha T: All of them were done pretty recent in regards to production.Host: So was this part of those white, was it Wyoming trips? Utah and Wyoming?Pusha T: Yes.Host: Okay, okay, yeah. What's out there man? Some sort of absolutely pop?Pusha T: Yes, it's like a resort, a very, very expensive...Host: So I snowboard. I've snowboarded in Jackson Hole. Is that where y'all going to, Jackson Hole?Pusha T: Yes, yes, one of those five-star super resorts, Amangani, I believe.Host: Something like that, some real exquisite.Pusha T: And I'm only, listen, I'm only saying this because, you know, I have to pay for half of this, it comes out of my budget. And let me just let you know like, you know, I'm at a point in my career like, I know how to like do a cheap album, put money in my pocket.Host: Yeah, yeah, I know how to play that game.Pusha T: Like I know how to... You spent a lot of money?Host: I spent a lot of money. Like now we're going way out and you're gonna spend...Pusha T: Your money.Host: How, how does it, how is the relationship with Kanye West? Actually, you know, let me say that different. I know the relationship is great.Pusha T: Bro, come on.Host: No, no, I know the relationship is great, but when it comes to his political and, I don't even know if it's politics because it's not really, it's more social, right? Because you were heavily in line with, not Trump, but with Hillary.Pusha T: That's right.Host: And mass incarceration conversations and going to visit The Rock and prison reform. Yes, you've been on that prior to, on now this Meek Mill and everything that's happening. You've been on it right, and involved in your local community and what's going on in DMV and you're doing...Pusha T: Shout out my man Tony Lewis.Host: Tony Lewis, yes. But then here comes Kanye West who I feel kind of came out the blue with some commentary about where he thinks, feels like things are today, right? How did you feel about that?Pusha T: I was totally against it, still am.Host: Now, well, which parts are you against?Pusha T: You know, for me, and you know my stance, and I have my own agenda. Like my own agenda, I came under so much fire for even riding with Hillary. But the way I looked at it, I was like, okay boom, you got Hillary, you got Trump. Hillary and her husband at the time, you know, had basically raised their hands and said, "Hey, you know what, we fucked up in the 90s, we really messed up in the 90s." And I felt like, you know, they needed, they needed our votes and we're speaking to that. And I felt like, man, you know what, if I do this, maybe this is a way she'll get in and this is a way we can hold her feet to the fire for prison reform.Host: And let me add to that, a lot of people forget the amount of people Barack had got out of prison on his way out of office, and Hillary going in planned to continue according to her words and what she said...Pusha T: That's what I was on.Host: That same agenda, right.Pusha T: That was the whole, that was the whole...Host: And so that's what you said...Pusha T: Man, and I'm talking about listen, I went to see Obama how many times, three times, you know, before he got out, and this is the talk. Like this is the real, this is the conversation, like look, this is what you want...Host: I mean, we go in there, we write down, he's like, "Yo, what you care about?" I'm talking about your table, all of us, "what you just, what you care about, that's all I want to know."Host: And who's at this table just so people...Pusha T: It's myself, it's Timberland, it's Ross, it's J. Cole.Host: Was that the, was J. Cole, oh yeah, J. Cole.Pusha T: Cool, Quality, Quality, yeah, Quality, Busta.Host: Quality. Busta.Pusha T: Janelle.Host: Janelle. So that was the photo that time we saw that photo?Pusha T: Yeah, that was one time.Host: Yeah, got it. That was one time, that was the first time.Pusha T: Yeah, so but there were other meetings.Host: Yeah, yeah, hell yeah. And so during the time we was all voting, you started to hear this blowback of like "Well, Hillary in the 90s and super predators talk." Do you feel in retrospect that that was a plant? Like, you know, now that we learning about the bots and all of this internet bots and... Do you feel like that was propagated by the Trump administration to undercut...Pusha T: I don't know. See, I don't, I don't, I don't know if that was, I can't say that they did that. She, man, you know, everything that you do and everything that you say in this time, in this generation, it comes back.Host: That's right, old tweets.Pusha T: All old tweets, super predator talk, all that's gonna come back. So many people were affected by that speech and those laws at that time, man. I can't even blame that one on him.Host: That's right.Pusha T: I can't say that they... They fucked up.Host: And by the way, you know, we've talked about when Tony Lewis was here too, right? You know, we talk about the Black church and Black politicians involvement in telling the Clintons and okaying that speech and to get rid of gangs and crack at that time because they felt like it was so rampant. So it was Black leadership involved in that as well.Pusha T: Facts. And listen, and it was rampant. Like it was, yo, it was crazy. At that time, wrong way to go about it, you know, drastic times, drastic measures, but...Host: Did we lose, we lost... No, we going.Pusha T: But okay, but so now Kanye comes out on stage and says, and I think we talked on the phone at this time, okay? Because this was prior to him having to, he didn't, he went into... I don't want to say rehab, but he went after that tour, remember? He shut the tour down and it was he had to go, go away. I don't know if it was rehab or not, but it was something like that. And I called you to check on him.Host: Yeah, I was like, "Yo, how's your guy?" He was like, "I'm going to check on him right now, just hearing about it. I don't really know, but we gonna, boom boom."Pusha T: And on the stage, he said, "Look, I don't vote, but if I did, I would have voted for Donald Trump." How did you feel when you heard that?Host: That, again, man, it wasn't, it's not like a how do I feel thing. Everybody knows like I wasn't with it. I didn't, I mean, I didn't like it at all. It's not totally against the movement that I feel me and my people are with. Dead wrong.Host: I'm assuming, I'm assuming you've had these conversations.Pusha T: I would totally, we have, like we talk straight. Like me and him talk super straight, like he tells me his ideas. I mean, listen, I feel, and I feel like that's why I'm even the president of Good Music. I feel like I'm the president of Good Music because, you know, you say something to me, I'm gonna tell you something back. I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna tell you why it's wrong. I'm gonna tell you the point of view, I'm gonna, I also tell you the point of view of other people and how people are gonna look at it.Host: We have those conversations and I'm like, "Yo man, like the messaging and that is totally wrong, bro." And I say like things like, "I'm not gonna see anything good in that hat. I don't see anything good in it. I look at that hat, that hat to me is the new KKK hood." That's my opinion.Host: Like that's, and you told him we feel the same. So when the tweets came out, you already knew that this was his mentality, that you already know that this was his way of thinking?Pusha T: Yeah. And, and to say, in, in all honesty, and I, you gotta remember too, I'm privy to like, I'm privy to real conversations with him, like no camera or nothing. So on and so forth, I feel like it's more... I feel like where he, he'll also say to me, "Man, you know, I with Bernie, like I with Bernie principles, I with the winner..."Host: Uh, you know, the, the, the, I wasn't supposed to...Pusha T: Dragon energy.Host: Dragon energy, these sound bites, bro.Pusha T: Yeah, you know, I with the, you know, I...Host: That's why you call me Click Bait Bro, right?Pusha T: That's why you say that, is because these things come out.Host: You know, my man, you said this, it's real, you're bugging.Pusha T: True, yeah, it's real.Host: But that's why I asked him any falsehoods and anything I'm saying, and look, and me and Kanye had our back and forth on social and on, and we talked privately too. And we talked for public consumption, which he told me I could share. I told him I was like, "When you was in the lobby with Trump, you conan, bro. That's conan for cash. I know what you're doing. You're trying to get, you're trying to line up so that you're accepted by a side that may not accept you, right? And you're feeling like Barack didn't give you the time of day and Trump is, and you're thinking about yourself. You're not thinking about the greater commonality of what we are trying to reprogram out here. You're using these words 'reprogram', but that's not what you're doing. You're trying to organize and program alongside the people who organize for white supremacy."Host: And I told him that and he listened because I don't think, at the time when I had the convo, that had been challenged because it wasn't the MAGA hat hadn't happened yet, right? These things hadn't happened yet. So I was hitting him with things like, "Yo, my man, watch these people, man, they're acting like they're for free thinking, they're acting like they're for all of this free thing, but are they? Because if they were, they would be independents, right? They wouldn't be aligned with the GOP. If you was really that free, right? You would just say the best candidate, let me see what you're talking about. But people start to line up on the Democrat and Republican side, right? And want to save this free thinking thing, I don't believe you. I'm not buying it." So we had that talk.Host: But were you pushing back like when you saw the photo with the MAGA hat, had you seen the hat around the studio and did you have an opportunity to confiscate it before he did that dumb ass...Pusha T: No man, I didn't actually, I didn't see it. I didn't see it. And, you know, I think I was there soon after.Host: After the hat or after TMZ("slavery was a choice" interview)?Pusha T: Like right after, right after.Host: Oh, that was so painful to watch.Pusha T: And, you know, again, you know, a lot of straightforward convo. Like it was just, you know, it was just real convo and me speaking to the insensitivity that people feel. And, you know, him talking to me and, you know, we talking back and forth and I'm like, "Hey, that, you know, that message doesn't come across like that. You know, you can't just, you know, you can't have Twitter level conversation on camera. It's not, you can't just get to the point when you're saying things that play into insensitive fields."Pusha T: So, you know, like, yeah, man, I don't, I don't know like what, what people like expect or want to hear from me in regards to that. I just, you know...Host: Well, I'll say this and what I've said to people is, you know, we're not abandoning Kanye West, but I understand...Pusha T: That's good.Host: I understand if people don't buy a shirt or don't want to wear shoes or don't want to go to a concert, right? But to, in our community where we've had Black Republicans, that's not a new phenomenon, right? We've had Black folks in our family that have conservative ideals and you're like, "Yo, my man, what are you saying right now?" Right, like that's not a new phenomenon either.Host: And to have discourse amongst family members and community should happen, right? But the responsibility, I think that's where people get hurt is because where we, as outsiders to the close network, feel like we're watching somebody lose their, uh, lose themselves. And we want to feel like somebody can help him, right? As if he needs help. But like I've told people, he may not need help. He might be living his best life right now.Host: Being the person that he is as he discovers whatever this new path is, right. And I, and let me tell you this, I, I really do feel like that. I feel like Ye is definitely living his best life. I feel like he's going to address so much of this on his album. Like he can't even, like there's no way around it, there's no way...Host: Do you feel like we all got trolled? Scoop scoop scoop scoop scoop scoop...Pusha T: Yeah, yeah, you know, I don't...Host: I didn't learn, I didn't learn the boss. That's a Hot 100 Billboard smash, but...Pusha T: You just asked me, but you just asked me, do I, you know, what do I feel about the trolling aspect of it? Who knows, we got to see, man.Host: Good Music president right here making sure the marketing stays clean.Pusha T: I'm not gonna...Host: We were worried about getting like some MAGA bars. We were thinking about... I'm like what if Kanye comes out and this is his whole, like all the content of his music.Pusha T: He gave you MAGA bars on mine, there's MAGA bars.Host: We can play it right now. It's called, uh, "What Would Meek Do?"Pusha T: "What Would Meek Do?"Host: Yeah. Did you reach out to Meek for this?Pusha T: I didn't, I did not.Host: What happened was...Pusha T: I got the beat, I heard, I loved it, and Meek was in jail. And I was like, "Man, see, Meek, Meek was home, he would be able to do this." Lo and behold, Meek comes home, but I couldn't bring myself to asking Meek to... Meek, we know what would Meek do. To see what Meek would do and you see with his son, his family, right? I couldn't do it, I couldn't do it.Host: Now it's perfect for a remix because the mass incarceration conversation. This is set up, has he reached out? Does he know?Pusha T: Yeah, we were, we would DM, we might have been DM'ing this morning.Host: Okay, yeah. What did he say?Pusha T: Nothing, just, he saw like an interview, like, "Yo, that's fly, that was dope."Host: Sounds like a remix is happening.Pusha T: Yeah, I got something else for Meek though.Host: I don't even know if we, I don't know if we want to touch this. It's, it's whatever, we, we gotta join on this album. There's a lot of samples I'd love to hear. Did 4:44 and No ID's production of reusing the sample which you know, No ID and Kanye have a relationship. Did that make it feel like bringing the sample back, did that give Kanye that confidence to get back to the chop?Pusha T: I think samples, I think, I think that is, the actual chopping and samples are his, that's where he's home at.Host: Yeah, yeah.Pusha T: So, this whole process, this whole process started with him going to like Amoeba Music, buying, you know, a thousand records or so, might be more than that actually, just listening and just listening. And then within that, you know, we did that and then we would make a list of just joints that we just loved. He was like, "Yo man, just make a list, give me 25 that you love." And he then he make a list of 25 or 50, then we put them together and he'd be like, "Yeah, I feel that. I feel like Glaciers of Ice," okay boom, that was pie, okay boom.Pusha T: So within that, within that whole little process, we were finding the sound that he was searching for through the samples. Within that, after that, he found, he was finding my album and found Tiana's album at the same time. Those were the first albums he found. Then I think he developed his sound for Kissy Ghost, developed himself, his sound for himself. And Nas's joint is just, that's him just fanning out. I feel like he took, he took from the joints that I've heard, and I've heard like three or four. He took all the strongest moments that he thought were Nas's and then just, you know, found a different way and updated it in 2028. Now it's just crazy.Host: Is uh, your bro, our bro Kanye West really running for president?Pusha T: Oh, I don't know about that man. I'll be seeing that online. I don't, he don't, he never said...Host: So when you go to the studio in the office, it's not like...Pusha T: No, no man, it's a whole bunch of, it's a whole bunch of sneakers, a whole bunch of samples and music equipment, man.Host: No Kanye 2024 clothes?Pusha T: It doesn't say, a lot of West...Host: No man?Pusha T: No man, chill, no man, don't put no extra on them, don't put no extra.Host: Besides Kanye's verse, why did, why only Ross has the only, only other feature?Pusha T: Ross is one of the only, one of the few artists that I can send a record to and get back a flawless verse. And I don't have to, I don't gotta...Host: Textually uh, and I guess contextually too, the wordplay and the type of verbiage...Pusha T: Yes.Host: That you and Ross construct your rhymes is very, it's like cousins.Pusha T: Yeah, yeah, it's very expensive rap luxury. It's luxury, it's so expensive. And it's so, it's dope because, you know, on, I like to say that my vocals cut through a lot, you know, in a higher frequency. Ross is the polar opposite, deeper, bassy. And it, I don't know, man, that, that marriage always works sonically.Host: Would you guys ever do a full collaborative effort?Pusha T: Oh, we never talked about that, but I, I would. He, he's like, Ross is like one of my, one of my favorites.Host: Like, well, you think the people would be here for a Pusha Ross album?Pusha T: Yeah, for sure.Host: What would you want to, what would it be a group? Would you guys like form a group for a minute and go on tour?Pusha T: I don't know, man. I mean, yeah, yeah, I would definitely want to tour with it for sure.Host: What would, what would you, if you had to like make a list of names just and we just freestyle, it's all hypothetical, clickbait...Pusha T: What would the name of the group be? Man, I come on, man, just, you know...Host: Drug Dealer's Dream.Pusha T: Yeah.Host: You guys would have great ad-libs, it'd be a lot of...Pusha T: Yes.Host: Yeah, yeah, a lot of noise, yeah, yeah, a lot of grunts, grunt game on. Grip, a thousand. Any touring plans?Pusha T: Man, I've had a couple touring talks. I actually had a talk with Nas.Host: Me and him?Pusha T: So that's, that's in the works.Host: No, I mean, we, we, like I said, I just left them and, you know, in finishing my album and him finishing his up. Now we were like, "Yo..."Host: And Nas is in there with Ye. They in there?Pusha T: Yeah, yeah, they there.Host: Was Nas in any of the arguments? Was he ever present when you and Kanye going back and forth? Nas chime in on...Pusha T: "Yeah, man, that MAGA hat was trash, fam." They, they have their own talks, you know, as far as all of that.Host: When we talk about stuff like that.Pusha T: I just, yeah.Host: Have you heard any of the Nas-Kanye back and forth debates?Pusha T: No, no, no, I haven't. I really haven't.Host: I'm being...Pusha T: I'm interested to hear what that's about.Host: Bait Bro. Look at Bait Bro going. Bait Bro going.Host: Push T, new album available. We got to the Kanye record, we got to the Ross record, we played "Infrared" where you address many things. We got to get to that "Santeria" record, Santeria, right?Pusha T: Right.Host: There was questioning your Spanish. Who's the person singing in Spanish on it?Pusha T: That's Shake, artist signed to Good Music.Host: Okay. How was her Spanish? Lord Styles, did you hear the record?Host: It didn't bother me because I was in the studio with Cast One and Lewis and they Spanish. They're like, "Who's she, really speak Spanish or is she just, they taught how to speak Spanish?"Pusha T: Oh no, she, she, she's Spanish for real.Host: Okay, because they, you know, Spanish people get particular and...Pusha T: Yeah, this is, you know, because Dominican Spanish is different than Cuban Spanish...Host: Spanish Spanish, Spanish different.Pusha T: Yeah, Shake. It's different.Host: Okay. I'm not, you know, I don't speak Spanish, that's why I'm asking.Pusha T: I deferred to Lord.Host: We can talk about it, but let's play... We're gonna play that "Santeria" joint.Host: No Pharrell on a top, on an entire Pusha T album, right? Obviously you're signing Good Music, but was that, did you even consider putting a Pharrell record? Are there Pharrell records that you had and you was like, not for this?Pusha T: Yeah, yeah, totally. The process, the process of of me just making an album is I go out, go to producers, get, find everything I love, write to it, bring it back to Ye. He'll go through that and say, "Yo, I like this, I like that, boom." And then he'll give me a batch of beats, some from him, some from other people. "I think you sound good on these." I go lay those, bring it back and I'll be like, "Yo, this is what I think the album is."Pusha T: So once that process happened, I was vibing with the album for like two days. On the third day, I go back and meet him in Calabasas and he's like, "Yo, I was riding with the album last night, man, you know, I think I could do these beats all better, like just myself, like I feel like I could just..." That's the type of album I feel like you need, like something that just sounds like one, you know, one body of work.Pusha T: Now, in dealing with other producers, you do your best, right, to like, "Hey, you know, this, this record sort of meshes with that, right, right, right, and so forth." But you know, you can't, you can't really duplicate that. You can get close.Host: Yeah, yeah. It never crossed your mind though, like, okay, if I only get a few Kanye records, I'm gonna go over here and talk to Pharrell, see if we can...Pusha T: Oh yeah, no, no, listen, like I'm in LA a lot. Every time I'm in LA, there's not one time where I don't go to the studio. For and I don't care who we got a session with, it like, he's in there cooking up, he's working with somebody, you know? We in there just vibing back and forth and, and and I'm playing them, you know, things that I like, things that, you know, that I'm listening to, so on and so forth. It's always a session with him. I got, where I got plenty joints in my phone of just us.Host: You on your album, which is available right now, go pick it up, it's called "Daytona." You switched the title in the last 25th hour.Pusha T: I did, I did.Host: Why?Pusha T: I mean, you kind of explained it on social media, but I, I just felt that, I felt that "King Push," you know, that's a moniker that I go by, that's what people call me, but it wasn't representative of, of of how I felt about this whole process and I feel like what the fans are getting from "Daytona" as an album. You're witnessing two artists, myself and Ye, having the luxury of time and this is what you got.Host: Daytona, Rolex is my favorite watch.Pusha T: There you go.Host: You got, what you got on right now?Pusha T: I'm Presidential today.Host: It's rich.Pusha T: It's about 15, 16 of these though, so just, you know, I'll, I'll switch out. If I'm gonna have more interviews, I'm gonna go switch out so I can...Host: Wow.Pusha T: My afternoon watch.Host: On the album, go get it. Pusha T, it's available. Daytona. You say, quote, "If we go by connections made, I can still climb ladders when complexions fade. White on white, that's the tester, black on black, that's the Tesla. See these diamonds in this watch face, all that came from pressure." Lord, yeah. I feel like on this album you're re-establishing the fact that not only are you wealthy and established in this game and you're not going anywhere, but you've also feel like, and I guess somewhat like Cola dressed on the 1985 record, it's a lot of clowns out here, it's a lot of puppets, it's a lot of people not handling their business right. It's a lot of people that go on the quick routes in the game. It's a lot of tomfoolery, if you will, taking place. Talk about what you're seeing in hip-hop right now that you would like to coach on.Pusha T: I feel, I feel like my, my calling in hip-hop at this stage of my career, in this stage of my game, is to, is to bring more of the younger talent to the forefront. Taking a job at Good sort of help with that, help me, you know, seeing my way through, you know, these executive positions. Soon, soon come new label for myself. That's the one thing.Pusha T: And I feel like, I feel like being open to, to the youth and new talent is what has kept me in this game so far. I feel like all, all of my favorites, all of the greats, 80s, you know, rap artists that, that are like the forefathers, everybody loves, I feel like every last one of them, they did not embrace the next generation coming. And that's why their lifespan was so short. And mind you, these guys were goat, god level artists. I mean, I'm talking about their bodies of work are incredible within that window. You looking at somebody who've been here 16 years now, like, you know, three group albums, three solo albums.Host: But it doesn't seem like you are embracing everything though. It seems like you drawing, well, it feels like you've drawn somewhat... You don't stand next to all rappers. There's people that you don't, you know...Pusha T: No, no, I don't, I don't stand next to everything, but I stand next to everything with a skill set. And I feel like, I feel like people, people are so quick to say, are always so quick to say, "Man, that's trash rap," and they don't recognize the skill set in it. I, I liken it, you, you gonna understand, I liken it to the hyphy movement. I used to sit at home, Rap City, you're on TV, whatever, and be mad as hell when something from the Bay came on. Mad as hell from Virginia, don't, ain't been nowhere in my life, you know, like this gets on, what is this, what is this? Stupid.Pusha T: Boom. Hit. Get in the rap game, go to the Bay, prettiest girls in the world, hell down in their ass, making this ugly ass face, dancing at me, partying, partying, thought it was the greatest thing I've ever experienced because you lived it, you experienced it, seen it in it.Host: Yeah, people don't like, you can appreciate anything that you live in.Pusha T: I'm still outside. I still got to go to the trap club. I still got to go everywhere and see it.Host: So, what are, what new artists do you feel strongly about right now?Pusha T: Yes, man. Gunna, Gunna, Gunna is my favorite right now. Little Baby's my favorite right now. Those are, those are my two that I'm listening to in this moment. 100%.Host: I just, I just discovered Little Baby when the album dropped.Pusha T: Oh man, I was late, but that's, you know, I'm always late. That's why they call me the old man. But I do, but there are people who are trash, and there are people who are good.Host: Yes, yeah, for sure. And so I do, you feel like we live in a time... I mean, I do, but we'll hear from you. Do you feel like we're in a time where people get too many passes for skill sets they don't have?Pusha T: Nah, man, I, I think, I think that the skill set shines through. I feel like, you know, if, if, if even if something, even if something doesn't have a longevity or a long lifespan, I feel that, you know, it hit that chord or struck that chord and evoked that emotion within that time period.Pusha T: And I feel like the kids today, it's a new rap too, like it's like, you know, it's more melody driven. It's more, it's not, it's a different style.Host: Yeah, it's a different style. Like and you can't, and some of these styles have existed before, whether it was Bone Thugs or even the Far Side who was singing and rapping. And listen, you know, Pharrell, Pharrell was talking last night at the listening and said, "Man, you know, we were talking about, you know, new rap, old rap, or whatever." He was like, "Man, you know, I really love, I really love new rap. And I look at, I look at new rap as jazz. It sounds like scat to me. When I hear, when I hear," I think he said Young Thug. He's like, "When I hear Young Thug, I hear jazz, I hear, like, you know, takes forever to get to the, to the chorus or whatever."Pusha T: Like, you know, and, and when he even likened it like that, I was like, "Damn, now I, you know, I'm not well versed in jazz, but..." I think the disconnect, how I see it, I think the disconnect is that people don't want that to be misconstrued with bars and rap. They want that to be not that it's not hip-hop, right? It's just a different...Host: And I think some of the artists even will say, "No, I'm not a rapper, I'm an artist," because they don't want to just be one thing.Pusha T: Well, I think that, yeah, but I think the new wave in rap and the hybrid of rap mixes so many genres. I mean, I feel like it mixes R&B, R&B melodies, you know, that...Host: Always have though, it always has.Pusha T: It always has, it always has. The focus was just more on content and bars. Now it's more melody. And I think that's why some younger artists like to refer themselves as only artists because they also don't want to help because they have...Host: Accountable.Pusha T: Yeah, to like those bars that they probably...Host: I think some of them suck at rap and they're just good at melodies. And some of them are great rappers and great at melodies.Pusha T: Facts, right, 100%. And so I think it's okay as hip-hop, if we want to point that out, and you don't have to like everything. I think that's the other part of it too, like...Host: Right, it's okay in hip-hop to be like, "Yo, I don't with that, right? I like this or I like that and not this, or I like all of it." Like I feel like the diversity in hip-hop is great, even though I don't with all of it, right?Pusha T: I mean, yeah, but you, you know, you different, man. You got like a huge platform. People like listening to you. So when you kill something, it's like, it means something when you kill it, you know that.Host: Yeah, but nah, you gotta stop...Pusha T: I mean, but he's like, you gotta chill a little bit, but I still play the record though. If it's hot, I'll play the record and be like, "Yo, this is doo-doo."Host: Okay, but y'all like it.Pusha T: People want to be like Ebro. People like to be liked.Host: They do.Pusha T: And you gotta, I seen your followers. You got mad followers. Whoever you are, you get mad double taps, man. You don't need me.Host: Push, listen, when the song is, he's just a rude, mean man. He'll say it though. He'll say it. Look, I didn't like it, but the song is hot. Like, and when it grows on you, does it ever grow on you?Pusha T: Sometimes, sometimes it does, right?Host: Do you do, you shout, well, you know...Pusha T: No, no, I do, I, you know, and I also do this, I also do this.Host: If you listen to the show, you caught a lot of heat for my, for my one of my favorite groups who you caught a lot of heat.Pusha T: And I, Rae Sremmurd?Host: Yes, well, they didn't write everything. Mike Will made it and they got mad.Pusha T: What you mean, that's what they got mad about?Host: Because I said, "Yo, y'all didn't write everything. Mike Will made some of that too." And they, Mike Will was mad, Rae Sremmurd was mad. And then Complex said they had a top three album of 2015. I was like, "Nah, I ain't with y'all, nah. Y'all don't have the top three album." That I ain't doing it with you.Pusha T: Yeah, I had a top three album.Host: And that didn't mean I didn't, I, because I like the album, I like that. I'm saying it's just not like you doing all, it's not top three though, like you crazy.Pusha T: I mean, that's how I am, man. You gotta chill.Host: That's, sometimes you gotta burn it down. See Bait Bro, Bait Bro will burn it down. Bait Bro will burn it down for the bait, baby. Sometimes you gotta be like, "Yo, man, I like it, but nah, it ain't three. It might be 13, 15, 18, 33."Pusha T: Man, not three.Host: I see you say that, Master Man, why would you do that?Pusha T: No, I like them, but he didn't, he didn't say that. He didn't like them.Host: I've never said that.Host: Yo, check this out. If we go all the way back and y'all watching YouTube because, look, we had them up here one time when they first got popping. And I was like, "Yeah, dope, man, let's get to these bars, you know, let's see what it is." They giggled and literally ran out of the studio.Pusha T: This is before that?Host: And I was like, "Okay, they funny, they funny, okay, all right. We're gonna see how this play out." Wow, they funny. And they had hits. Look, this new album's fire...Pusha T: Oh, it is fire.Host: Do you say it, not top three?Pusha T: Do you, not top three? Bro, it's hard to have a top three album in the world.Host: I mean, look, I didn't make the rules. I didn't make the rules. Get this guy, man, get this guy, man.Host: Yo, Push, what's up, man? Daytona, man, is in a top three album. Daytona is a, Daytona is definitely album of the year, rap album of the year, street rap album of the year for sure.Pusha T: Album of the year for sure.Host: Over Cole?Pusha T: Oh, for sure, for sure.Host: What do you think? Pusha T: Listen to it again, I don't know if it's Cole got a fire body of work and Cole, listen, Cole one of my favorites, straight up, bar for bar. What do you mean? I mean, you said, what do you say? "Believe in me, Coles and Kendricks." But I mean, you know, it's, it's, it's into what you like, you know? This is, this is street high level luxury rap at its finest.Host: Yeah, on the top of the production, like you can, I, I want to A and B my album with everybody you thinks is great. So in that bar where you say, "Believe in me, Coles and Kendricks," and then you go on to talk about sock puppets, "Let the sock puppets play with their roles and gimmicks. Shit, remember Will Smith won the first Grammy and they ain't even recognize Hove until Annie."Host: Then you went on to say, "So I don't tap dance for the crackers and sing mammy because I'm supposed to juggle these flows and nose candy." Who are the sock puppets?Pusha T: Come on, Clickbait Bro. You know who they are.Host: I don't even listen, man. You're not doing it today. You're done with me.Pusha T: Yeah, I'm done with you, man. I'm done with...Host: Yo, where we closing out with? Off the hour, where we go?Pusha T: Let's play some, "The Games We Play." One of my favorite joints from off the album.Host: Why is this one of your favorites?Pusha T: I just, I feel like it really harnesses the energy of the, the nightlife and the street life and that competitive club spirit. It's, it's car music to me. It's, it's, it's pull up. It's pull up. It's pull up in front of the club, hop out, flex. You heard that, you heard that...Host: That's Funk Flex.Pusha T: Yeah, yeah, go crazy, windows down. Oh man, Flex is definitely gonna play this.Host: Yeah. Don't Push, I love you, brother.Pusha T: No, of course, always good to see you, man, always.Host: And, and have you, before we let you go, you will be doing more work in, in politics? Are you done with that and just focus on mass incarceration? Like, where are you at in that, man?Pusha T: You know, I, I feel like at this time, I'm gonna just be focused more on the prison reform, mass incarceration side. I don't really even know how to weasel my way into the political.Host: And that's not your interest?Pusha T: No, no, it's not my interest, but you know, when Obama was in office, we had like an in. That's what we, we up there, we're doing cartwheels and that and you're not gonna tap dance and sing mammy.Pusha T: I'm definitely not going up there right now. It's not happening, but, you know...Host: Are you saying your brother Kanye West...?Pusha T: Click Bait Bro, come on, man, like chill. That is my brother though? Yes, he's definitely my brother.Host: We all got family that cool and tap dance every now and then.Pusha T: Bye, man. Bye, man.Host: Hot 97.*There may be errors on this page.