In case you missed it, earlier yesterday Mac Miller took to YouTube, and all other streaming services to release 3 new songs.
The 3 new songs - titled "Buttons", 'Small Worlds", and "Programs" - sort of came out of nowhere for the Pittsburgh rapper, and only a brief 2 weeks after it was reported that Mac was arrested and charged with a DUI and Hit and Run after hitting a power line pole and crashing his car in the San Fernando Valley of California.
One can only hope that Mac is not hitting rock bottom again after it was confirmed that Mac and his girlfriend of over a year, singer Ariana Grande, called it quits. Although in some cases with musicians (especially one as creative as Mac) bad things happening can mean for some inspiration on the music making front, Mac's history with drug abuse may worry some fans as to how the rapper has been dealing with the break up. Prayers up for Mac and his health.
Check out the 3 new Mac songs below.
(*I do not own any of these songs, or the rights to them*)
Only a few hours ago (around 9 P.M. EST), Pusha T took to Twitter to release his newest Drake diss track, "The Story Of Adidon", and... Drake better be coming with the heat after this one.
One line in the song Pusha claims "if we all go to hell it'll be worth it", and with the information he drops in this new record, that just may very well be the case. Push brings what seems like EVERYTHING to light about Drake, including a LONG LOST CHILD that Drake supposedly had with former porn star Sophie Brussaux, Drake's mother, Drake's producer's (Noah "40" Shebib) battle with Multiple Sclerosis (and here's the kicker... tomorrow, 5/30 is MS DAY!!!!), and the cherry on top; you see that artwork above? Oh yes... that's Drake in blackface... according to Pusha, the photo is from an unreleased photoshoot Drake did with photographer David Leyes for an old clothing brand; if there's anything that will turn the people on ANYONE, and for good reason; it's someone painted in black face. Hey Drake, you got some splainin' to do.
How Drake counters a blow like this, I do not know. But I will keep you posted on how it plays out. Listen to Pusha's new diss record below, and check out Vulture's breakdown of the track and the disses included in that link.
When Kanye so carelessly started spewing away every little "dinner talk" thought that came to his mind on Twitter a mere month ago, the rest of the world got excited about what he was saying (mostly the music talk), but there was a little voice in the back of everyone's minds that was keeping them from getting their hopes up. So many genre shifting releases in a matter of a couple months is enough to get people excited, and possibly even shift the tide back in the favor of the emcees who favor crafting albums over carelessly throwing out music to appease fan's music quota. Pusha T is one of those exceptions to hip hop. Though the Bronx emcee's history of spitting lyrical game (and by game I mean "drug money" game) has far outweighed his hit making (or let me rephrase, "pop" hit making) abilities, Push has always found a way into relevance in hip hop, and with Kanye behind the boards of your album (no matter how much hip hop hates him right now), nothing but good can come from it in terms of the sound of the actual music. So does Pusha push a ton of weight on his newest release Daytona? Or does he hit the bricks and fall tiresome? Let's discuss a few observations from Pusha's newest release.
Blunt Honesty That Hip Hop Is Missing
A good portion of Pusha T's time on Daytona is spent boasting the money earning ways, whether legal or illegal, to listeners. Push returns with an eagerness to provide what hip hop has been missing without him over gritty tracks like "If You Know You Know", an attention demanding sample that somehow gives all the attention to Pusha, his patterns and his flow style taking center stage with lines like "where were you when Big Meech brought the Tigers in?, 'cause I was busy earnin' stripes like a Tiger's skin." Pusha's full persona is put on display throughout the album, with talks of past lessons of drug deals, changing personalities and jealousy of the evils of money, all to play in the car to scare off the kids horsing around on the street, and at the same time, earn the respect of the scary dudes that hang out on your local corner. 'The Games We Play" sounds like the soundtrack to an episode of smuggling some 100% pure Colombian Bam Bam on Narcos, giving that hard, yet, groovy feel that spreads awareness that it can be fun to dance to songs about drug dealing... but we should all be aware that it's out there, and it's much scarier than a sample that Kanye chopped up.
Is There A Lesson? No, But It's Damn Fun To Get Lost In The Sauce
Pusha is unique in not only his skills, but his entire persona as a rapper/past drug dealer. On "Come Back Baby", Push plays the teacher to the students, but without entirely forcing the "game" onto his listeners. All throughout Daytona, Push aims for a sound that sounds like that of a poor man's Jay Z (which is definitely a compliment); he preaches to you the horrors and the harsh realities of the street life, while making it a fun listen to bump in the whip or the system. On the second part of "Santeria", the samples bleeds through the speakers like the blood of lost cartel casualties and fatalities; the fruits of the hard earned labor are appreciated, but the lessons of the haunting aftermath stay with us like the ghosts of project's past. In other words; it's cool to know about the details of drug dealings and murderers, but it's even cooler to know that there are repercussions of what those drug dealings bring, and if the rumors are true of the cover art being Whitney Houston's bathroom during her drug addiction (seriously, look it up if you can find out the meaning behind the cover art), then it seems Push is really pushing that narrative home with these evils that drugs bring.
Hard Rap Brought Back To It's Roots
(*I do not own these songs, or the right to them*)
Push has never been looked at as a gatekeeper of hip hop, but most of the time people pay attention to what he has to say. He uses Daytona as a means to get some things off his chest, whether it be Birdman and Wayne's troubles, dissing Drake (refer to the last post for more details on that), or rap's current state overall. The frustration of the current state of hip hop burns throughout Daytona, and some of that pent up frustration could probably be heard throughout a line or 2 in every song on the album. Though a short album, Push does a good job of keeping it poignant and precise in the 7 tracks given, which is commendable and frustrating in itself; commendable for not using album filler, yet frustrating for not being able to hear more of what Push has to say about things. Push uses the opening lines of the scathing "Infrared" to share his thoughts on the current state; "the game's fucked up niggas beats is bangin, nigga ya hooks did it, the lyric pennin' equal to Trump's winnin', The bigger question is how the Russian's did it, It was written like Nas but it came from Quentin, at the mercy of a game where the culture's missin', when the CEO's blinded by the glow it's different, believe in myself and the Cole's and Kendrick's, let the sock puppets play in their roles and gimmicks", which lead to much more, including lines on Birdman, Wayne and Drake. Some people may look at Push's honesty in these lines as hate towards the current stars as a now so-called "old head" of hip hop, but how could it be hate if he's fighting for Wayne's case, just as his label boss Rick Ross did on his 2017 track "Idols Become Rivals? No, Push is not looking for attention on the entirety of "Infrared" (though most of the Drake disses could be seen as such), he's merely using hip hop what it has been meant to be used for since it's inception; speaking from his heart, and saying what he believes needs to be said at the end of the day, whether people like it or not.
Pusha T has caused quite a stir in the last 24 hours with his latest album release Daytona, which released last night at midnight (technically, May 25th). The new 7 song album from Push is entirely produced by Kanye West (who we won't get into with his ridiculous comments as of the last few months, hip hop has disowned you Kanye), and features a slew of classic coke-rhymes, but the most noticeable lines from the album are what people are speculating to be Drake diss lines.
In the final song of the album "Infrared", Push essentially dedicates an entire song to Drake, targeting things such as his label boss's issues with his own label ("oh now it's okay to kill Baby, niggas looked at me crazy like I really killed a baby, salute Ross 'cause the message was pure, he see what I see when you see Wayne on tour, flash without the fire, another multi-platinum rapper trapped and can't retire, niggas get exposed, I see the cracks and I'm the liar?, shit I been exposed I took the crack and built the wire, now who do you admire?" etc.) what Push refers to as "inflated rap sales" ("your rap songs is all trying my patience, them prices ain't real without inflation") and past ghostwriting rumors ("how could you ever write these wrongs, when you don't even write your songs").
Drake then responded a mere hours later with an Instagram post, appearing to be a invoice directed at Pusha, titled "For Professional Services Rendered, for Promotional assistance and career reviving."
Which, makes sense if you listen to the track Drake's OVO Sound Twitter account posted at around 6 PM tonight (May 25th), titled "Duppy Freestyle", which is an immediate response to Pusha, and where in the finals lines of the song Drake raps "tell 'Ye we got an invoice coming to you, considering we just sold another 20 for you." You can call Drake anything you want, but dammit is the man prepared for battle when it comes back around to him.
So what do you guys think? The hip hop world has seemed to speculate some Pusha-Drake beef for quite some time, considering many believed Drake to fire shots at Pusha on his loosie track released pre-More Life, "Two Birds One Stone". Drake seemed a little TOO prepared for the smoke Pusha had coming for him, responding less than 24 hours later on Instagram, AND in audio form in the new song, "Duppy Freestyle" (which by the way, what the actual FUCK does that mean?). Does Push go back at Drake? Does Drake respond back after Push comes with more smoke? Keep your eyes glued to social media over the next few days and we'll probably all get to find out. Drake is as calculated as anybody in rap now when it comes to diss tracks and responses (if not more calculated), but Drake is not messing with another Meek Mill in proven emcee Pusha T. We'll see what happens, as both rappers have albums to promote (with Drake's coming in June), so who knows how crazy things could get. In the mean time, check out the invoice from Drake to Pusha above, and check out Drake's response record below.
(*I do not own any of the songs, images, or the rights to them*)
Earlier this afternoon (May 23rd), Editorial Director of Culture and Content at TIDAL Elliot Wilson took to Twitter to give hip hop fans a glimpse of what could be some new content from the Philadelphia legend.
Wilson shared a video of a new Will Smith freestyle, which spanned just under a minute and a half. Will spits some old school style bars, trademarking his signature wit, funny punchlines and some surprising multi-syllabic rhyme schemes. Does this mean we're getting some new music from Big Willy (Boy does it still feel uncomfortable calling him that)? Nothing is confirmed yet, but check out the freestyle here in this link, and stay tuned for more new Will Smith music news.
5 days ago (May 10th) Buddy took to Twitter to release a new track.
The track, titled "Trouble On Central", is the second song of 2018 that the Compton rapper has released, with the first being "Black" featuring A$AP Ferg, which released back in March. Supposedly Buddy is set to release his major label debut with RCA Records this summer, and it appears we're right on track with the previous 2 singles.
After his much slept on 2017 E.P Magnolia, Buddy's return with "Trouble On Central" really brings back the 90's west coast vibes, with the beat sounding very much like Doggystyle-era Snoop. It wouldn't be surprising to hear if Snoop is a heavy influence on Buddy's music. You can listen to Buddy's new single below, and probably expect a project in the coming month or months.
