Pusha T
Daytona

Niggas talkin shit, 'Ye - how do you respond?

Whoop, scoop! Whoop! Whoopty whoop!

No, wait, stop everything! What the hell are you doing? What the hell is happening? Gate writing about rap?!

Exactly.

And don’t imagine anything grandiose: I'm here with trembling legs and sweaty elbows. I have an overwhelming amount of existential doubts, the cloud and trap rap inexorably disgust me, I don’t know if I’m worthy, etc. But. But in 2018, in my opinion, we should be talking a bit more about rap, and deBasio cannot afford to let this “Daytona” fall into oblivion, the latest work of the GOOD Music president, Mr. Pusha T. Perhaps his masterpiece, and certainly one of the albums of 2018, rap and beyond.

The first thing I want to say is that this album almost oozes drugs. Kanye West, who is the founder of GOOD, undertakes the role of producer for the entire piece, concocting beats filled with juicy samples over which our Pusha spreads his verses focused obsessively, and given the name it’s no surprise, on dealing and consuming drugs; dealing which Mr. Thornton has conducted firsthand.

Already the title of the opener, "If You Know You Know" is a typical slogan within the cocaine circle: a true army, that of the cocaine soldiers, expression from "Come Back Baby"; my favorite track, where the flow spills into the heavenly chorus of the late George Jackson. Not exactly a love song, however; if anything, about heroin addiction. "Hard Piano" stretches over a sample from Charles Wright and features an excellent Rick Ross. "Santeria" seems to catapult us into the middle of a shootout between two Cuban gangs, while "What Would Meek Do?" unravels over a splendid duet between Pusha and West, over a sample from the Yes... And then there’s "Infrared", enough, listen to it damn it, as it only lasts twenty minutes, it takes longer to talk about it; every track is a damn masterpiece.

Seven tracks, because seven is a tough number, of raw and direct hip-hop, which these days is really a good thing; impeccable flow, inspired beats, top-notch lyrics, amazing bases, Pusha rasping, face punches to Drake and the 85000 dollar photo of the bathroom of the Houston – speaking of drugs – on the cover, so we can also throw it into chaos. Go for it.

I'm gone!