Although it was leaked earlier this week, Pusha T‘s most recent album “It’s Almost Dry” has now officially released. Following “King Push” critically acclaimed Daytona, which was produced entirely by Kanye West, there was a lot of hype coming into this project’s release. This album’s production credits are dominated by Kanye West and other legend producer, Pharrell Williams.
Right off the bat, Pusha is reminding people who he is and where he comes from in “Brambleton” talking about the different life path that he chose in trapping (and in large amounts at that). This runs perfectly into Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes , which is backed by a soulful yet energy-filled sample that makes you bounce. Pusha describes himself as “the coke game Dr. Seuss”. I’d say that’s a pretty fair statement too.
Dreamin of the Past features a verse from Kanye as the pair reminisce on their younger years, as well as the trials and tribulations that they have gone through to get to the point that they are at. Neck & Wrist starts off with a VERY different sound for most Pusha T songs, as it sounds extremely spacey, and atmospheric and is backed by a fat bass. Pharrell delivers a very satisfying chorus over the especially spacey parts of the track where Pusha may have not been properly suited. It’s also notable that Push’s adlibs were also on another level on this song, which also featured JAY-Z who has the third verse of the track where he drops knowledge and insights (as he normally does) on the trap game.
At this point, we are four tracks into the record and it seems like we are getting Pusha’s best project to date. And then, Just So You Remember comes in with Pusha T almost KNOWING this and doubling down on the album’s start by beginning the track by saying “Just so you remember who you dealing with/ the number don’t change, I know who the chemist is“. This track Pusha flaunts his lavish lifestyle, and he’s good at it. It sounds like a fun life.
Rock N Roll is an interesting track as it features Kanye and Kid Cudi on the same track, as Cudi has taken to Twitter to inform his fans that this will be the last time the two will have a song together and that he only cleared the song to be released out of respect for King Push. Cudi’s chorus is experimental, which is something that sounds redundant when talking about an already experimental artist. Saturated and gritty, Cudi sounds like a modulated and amp’ed up rock star, as the song title alludes. Kanye’s verse is really good as well as he brought emotion and introspection to the track, before Cudi’s verse that I feel completes the song perfectly.
Call My Bluff just sounds fun. Pusha sounds confident, comfortable, and quite frankly badass.
Scrape It Off continues the trend of this album pushing new sounds for Pusha T, as it begins with a melodic chorus that Don Toliver has made a career from, and leads into a fun verse from Lil Uzi Vert. I don’t know how I feel about the combination of Don Toliver on a Pusha T song and think that to this point in the album it is the only personal criticism that I had- I just think I would have liked the song better with someone else delivering the chorus.
Hear Me Clearly was previously released on featured artist Nigo’s recent album and features Pusha and Nigo talking more about their lavish lifestyles but more importantly, the REALITY that it is. Pusha alludes that other artists and individuals push dreams that are not attainable and pretend have lives that they are not truly living, while Pusha explains that he is different. “F*ck all them fairy tales,” explains Push on the chorus.
Open Air sounds like the album starting to slow down as it is a slower, and a bit eerier beat as Pusha’s verse is backed by creepy laughs and a lot of minor beat progressions. Not a track I would necessarily come back to a lot but definitely a fun track amidst the project.
The final track I Pray For You is the most interesting collaboration on the project, featuring Labrinth and MALICE. Labrinth opens the track singing over an angelic piano solo in a choir-esque introduction that escalates throughout the first minute, leading into an unexpected beat drop and Pusha T rapping hard. Woah… was not expecting that. I was worried that this song wouldn’t work, but that collaboration worked wonders and felt like the perfect closing track.
This project is truly awesome and definitely delivered with all of the hype that it had coming in. Pusha T just solidified himself as an artist that has music for everybody. There is a song for every type of person on this album. He also just announced the album’s mini-tour, which can be found to the right.
After going such a long time with no full-length Pusha T album, the drought is no more. And we were hit with the whitest of snowballs by King Push. Check it out yourself below!