Pusha-T Gets Chased By a Fox, Talks Drake’s Alleged ‘Career-Ending’ Diss & More
Last week, Pusha-T announced that his beef with Drake was "all over with" in an interview with Vanity Fair. Today, the resolved feud came up again in a newly published profile for GQ where Pusha-T also discussed his latest album, DAYTONA in addition to his relationship with Kanye West and explained why he's one of the hardest rappers in the game. Scroll down for the full rundown.
On if DAYTONA was meant to be summer music...
"There was no intention of it being summer music. I definitely was trying to make car music. I call it "pull-up-and-park music." Pull up at the store, pull up on the corner, park, blast the shit, roll the windows down, everybody circling around the car. That's what it was meant for."
On one of the main themes on DAYTONA, which is time, and the luxury of having time, as in, the clock ticking on his artistic prime:
"I haven't [thought that], actually. It just dawned on me. I was like, "Who's 16 years into their career and really doing it like this?" I just feel like this is how we're supposed to see rap mature. I think it's how it's supposed to go."
On being the president of G.O.O.D. Music, and how the role has impacted his own music:
"It hasn't. I feel like my music is something I'm certain no one else in the game does. Lyrically, I don't think there's anyone in the game who articulates the way that I do. I feel like when me and Ye are together, rhymes on top of production, you're getting the highest quality of street music that you can get. So when I hear new stuff, I like it, I admire it, I see the potential in it. But it never makes me want to do it. Because I just feel like what I do is what I do."
On if old stuff inspires him:
"Old feelings and old energy. I hear [Raekwon’s] “Incarcerated Scarfaces,” and I'm like, "I want that feeling."
On his experience in Wyoming with Kanye West:
"It had a very rehab type of feel. Secluded, away, super laser focused on the music. Clean living. Disconnected from everybody except those who are about the art. I was just focused on health."
On anything weird that happened and if he was scared:
"I was chased by a fox. I ran. But it kept coming towards me. For sure. I'm not an outdoors person."
On Kanye West's support of Trump and the things he said to TMZ, saying slavery was a "choice," and if it changed how he looks at him at all:
"No. I feel like he's an opinionated friend. And we don't have to agree. And we haven't agreed on a lot of things in life. And we're still friends. Nine times out of ten, I feel like if I argue my opinion I'm going to come up with way more facts. I feel like he moves off of feeling a lot... I'm around him enough to know that he says certain things and then he'll see something that doesn't even agree with something that he says and he'll be passionate about that as well.
I sort of feel like our relationship is one of the more easygoing ones, because there's really never a lot of pressure with me. It's like, "Hey man, you want to work on some music?" "Alright, yeah, let's do it." If not, I just go work elsewhere... And it's the luxury of time. When you have the luxury of time, that takes a lot of stress off of situations, especially when you're not the only one in the situation."
On his thoughts on the summer of 2015, when Drake and Meek Mill were trading barbs:
"I just realized that the age of social media weighed less on truth and more on entertainment. And I felt like it was just a little different. Because I was just like, "Man, if some of the revelations that came out then had happened a while ago, in the rap game people would be like, 'What!? No way!'"
On the cover for "The Story of Adidon," and his thoughts on the context of the picture, and where it come from:
"See, I don't know. I just know that me being a black man, that's something I'm totally against. I'm just like, "How could you be that comfortable, ever?" Just for me, there's no way that's ever comfortable."
On Drake's explanation for the picture, saying it was to raise awareness for black actors struggling to get roles...
PT: "That's not an explanation that I would accept."
On his reaction to J Prince saying that Drake has a response track that would ruin careers, but that J Prince stopped Drake from releasing it:
"You know, I don't know. I just feel like if there was something that was beneficial for either of those two guys, they would do it. I think they're into doing anything that's beneficial for them."
On if it's a bluff, or that they're scared, and if the beef is fun:
"I don't want to call them scared. I just want to say that they're thinking. They're doing what's best for them. Yeah. I felt like the whole idea of a battle—I don't know what was gained or what was lost."
On how rap battling in the social media era is different:
"It's different because there's a lot of sympathy and compassion and things like that I didn't know existed. That's why it's not even fun to me anymore.
Bro, it's weird. It's so weird. There's a sentimental aspect that I didn't know existed. But new rules. I'm learning and discovering a whole bunch of new rules in the rap game. And I'll just leave it at that."
For the full interview, head on over to GQ now.
Also, in case you missed it, watch this breakdown of all the samples on Pusha-T’s ‘DAYTONA.’