A slightly flawed but still a grimy, sharp, and dark coke-rap record that still shows Pusha-T at his greatness.
Like on every strand of art out there, there will be a repetition and exhaustion of how the creator discusses certain topics and tropes in their art. Going through many messages and themes in art can be frustrating due to how creators can make the discussion of certain themes bland, milk toast, and cliche to a fault. Every genre has those, so it makes delving down to finding an interesting and unique take on a topic to be a bit of a challenge.
In relation to that, the topic surrounding drugs can probably be split into two: those who mention it for surface party satisfaction and hippy coolness, and those who delve into the topic in an extreme fashion where the effect of it has enveloped the art and the creator itself. In the 2010s, there are definitely certain artists that have delved into the latter aspect in vivid and effective detail, acts like Danny Brown and the Griselda collective have dug deep into the whirling aspects of drugs. But there is one artist that has consistently showcased effective walkthroughs on drug rap, and that artist is Pusha T.
One half of the acclaimed rap duo Clipse, Pusha T has worked through solo records in the 2010s after the tragic collapse of Clipse. Those records certainly got the attention of many listeners as they've been captivated by Pusha T's brand of drug rap: nasty, volatile, and sharp. That is until the sudden beef with Drake that circumvented with Pusha T making a diss track against him that rocked the entire hip hop sphere just after he put out his most concise and critically acclaimed record 'Daytona', where the brand of drug rap Pusha T has been plowing through has only cut deeper and found more scars to bear. At that point, a new record from Pusha T had only gotten more hyped up, especially when it had been 4 years since Daytona. Bringing in along Kanye and Pharrell on the production and a couple of high-end features on the tracklist, Pusha T may put out this formidable project with ‘It’s Almost Dry’.
And for the most part, it is true. Pusha T’s lyrical flair might feel a bit more trimmed down than his past records, but the sharp and brute force he brings still is there. His focused flow, his usual rich reference points, and the direct and analytical topics surrounding drugs are still here in spades, but how it becomes a bit more different is how it inserts more personal musings as Pusha T reflects a bit on the past surrounding how that drug cartel aspect and how it reflected on his success, but also showcases the embrace of that darkness that he will go through in this drug heap narratives that he has been putting forth for decades now, only for Malice to counteract that darkness on the final track, where the light might blow away the dark path that Pusha T might wander, or complement that darkness with a heavenly threat. What makes this narrative stick beyond Pusha T’s fervor comes from the production by Pharrell and Kanye West, both of which just honed in and managed to make their production flourishes balance each other out, and still keep the tones cohesive for the most part. The oily synthesizers amidst swampy beats of ‘Brambleton’, The haunting vocal sample that elevates the murky snarl of ‘Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes’, The heavenly organ and choir touches of ‘I Pray For You’, The driving low-end amidst the sweeping keys and the mechanical drums patterns of ‘Hear Me Clearly’, the collage of samples amidst a chilling beat of ‘Diet Coke’, The sneaking synth pattern of ‘Just So You Remember’, and the woodwinds and crystalline keys amidst bass-heavy drum beats ‘Open Air’ showcase the greatness in display.
With those positives penned down, does the record manage to trump Daytona? Not exactly, and the thorny aspects are specified down to the features, Pusha T’s delivery, and some production blemishes that pull down its weight. It’s quite disappointing that the features in this record distract from the tracks that they’ve featured in, mostly because some of them don’t really come on par with Pusha T’s content. The most distracting of those features come from Kanye West, Kid Cudi, and Pharrell Williams for just underwhelming their performances on their respective features. While Jay Z, Don Toliver, and Lil Uzi Vert come off as serviceable, they don’t reach the highlighted features of Malice and Labrinth from the last track, and it’s a weird choice to put Lil Uzi Vert when you have the Griselda camp doing their coke-centric hip-hop really well these days. Pusha T himself also tends to undercut his sharp delivery on this record, which was an interesting shift from time to time but it just doesn’t really fit him that much at all, especially when the record lyrically tries to go on a darker and menacing road which does not fit with Pusha T’s tempering of his sharper delivery. While Kanye West and Pharrell Williams brought a great number of colorful beats, some of the mixing can get jumbled from time to time. This shows up significantly on ‘Dreamin Of The Past’, ‘Scrape It Off’, ‘Rock N Roll’, and parts of ‘Diet Coke’ and ‘Just So You Remember’.
Even if Pusha T’s drug rap can feel a bit familiar to a point, he still shows that he is still at his game when it comes to this brand of gnarly, coke-sorted hip hop. It does not elevate his best record which is Daytona, mostly because of some disappointments in the features and some slip-ups on Pusha T’s delivery as well as Ye and Pharrell’s production work. But hey, Pusha T still brings his A-game, and still reminds all of us that no one does his thing as he does.
Favorite Tracks: Brambleton, Diet Coke, I Pray For You, Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes, Just So You Remember, Open Air, Hear Me Clearly
Least Favorite Track: Rock N Roll