Pusha T proved that he could hold his own with the best of ’em. He’s certainly one of the most skilled MCs of the modern era but he likely wouldn’t receive that acknowledgment if it weren’t for his ties to Kanye West. His verse on “Runaway,” and his contributions to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasyshifted his trajectory entirely post-Clipse.
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During a recent interview with Idea Generation, Steven Victor revealed that Push nearly bailed on the Hawaii sessions. He explained that Ye’s creative process proved unfruitful for Push who left Hawaii with the intention of never returning again. Victor said Push received a call from Rick Ross who invited him to Hawaii on behalf of Kanye West to work on the album.
“There’d be periods where we would be in Hawaii for like two or three weeks and no work would be getting done. So for someone like Pusha, it’s like, ‘What is this? This doesn’t make sense,” Victor said. “We were supposed to go out there one time and he was like, ‘Tsk. I’m not going, man. This ain’t it.’ I was like, ‘Nah, we have to go! [Kanye’s] process is his process.’ He was like, ‘I’m not going.’”
With a little bit of convincing, Victor ultimately made his way to Hawaii before Pusha T where he scouted the scene. He said once he landed in Hawaii, he ended up running into Kanye at the wee hours of the morning who was apparently zooming through the streets of Hawaii before stopping to greet Victor. Ye asked for Push, who was apparently had a “stomach virus” but Victor assured Kanye that he would arrive the next day.
“We’re talking and he’s asking me questions about the Clipse and so on and so forth,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Yo, we should X, Y, Z.’ And he’s like, ‘That’s a great idea.’ So I get back and I call Pusha and I’m like, ‘Yo, I just had this conversation with Kanye. Ye wants you to come out here ASAP so we can figure this out.”
The outcome was Pusha T inking a deal with G.O.O.D Music. At the time, there were other labels that wanted the Clipse member on their roster. Victor explained that G.O.O.D Music not only had the financials straight but also provided an excellent business structure for Push’s creativity. “Pusha was taking it more seriously than I was, because for me, I was like, ‘Ok, that makes sense financially. But creatively and long-term, I think this makes way more sense,” he said.
Peep the clip below.