Just a few weeks ago the strong contingent of hip-hop releases that kept coming throughout 2015 ended with the likes of Pusha T, who gave us Darkest Before Dawn, a ten-track prelude to his now highly anticipated third album King Push, which should be coming later this year. As strong as his first solo album, My Name is My Name was, DBD furthered Pusha T’s status as a lyrical heavyweight, and one which, unlike most, has been getting more and more intense over the years – nay, decades – he has been in the rap game.
This is a man who, similarly to emcees like Mystikal and N.O.R.E, seems to bring out the best in any producer he works with, teasing out their greatest beats, which the producers are happy to hand over because Pusha makes them sound so. damn. good. First it was Pharrell/Neptunes, then it was Kanye West, and now Timbaland seems to be absorbing Pusha’s energy, putting out some his best work in years (see: “Got ‘Em Covered”, “Untouchable”) for the highly skilled lyrical assassin to play around with.
This is why it’s always exciting to head to a Pusha T gig. You can rely on dope rhymes, dope beats, and the kind of insurmountable intensity that can only come with the perfect mix of both. My first time seeing Push live was with his partner-in-rhyme (No) Malice when they first toured here, playing the Metro Theatre, as Clipse. It remains one of the best hip-hop concerts I have seen to date, purely based on how much energy both rappers gave us in their delivery and how well that energy was mirrored in the crowd; something I rarely see from a hip hop act without a band behind them.
While Pusha’s intensity is augmented by the presence of his brother, this was by no means a deflated performance, first prefaced by a handful of contemporary, expected turn-up anthems from New York’s DJ Equal as the sole support act, and then helped along by a relentless onslaught of said dope rhymes, and said dope beats, all pushed out by a wide-eyed Pusha who really did look like someone who would knock your block off if if you dared step in his space.
DJ Rick Geez was on deck, blending the set list into each other and making the medley style really work, seamlessly floating from one beat to the other, starting with the monstrous “I Don’t Like (Remix)” and never letting that spark die down, following Pusha by jumping into “Blocka” and “Millions”, both of which were given almost full performances before another verse-only track popped up, the anthemic “Mercy”.
Pusha puts the punch in punchlines too, with a razor-sharp precision at the end of each bar, bringing the focus – refreshingly – to the verses rather than the hooks or the beats, strutting the stage like a true high-order emcee blending coke-rap with introspection, to which the crowd couldn’t have been more enthused.
Vocalist Chris Jackson popped on the stage every now and then on the assist, beefing up the more vocal-driven tracks like “Sweet Serenade” and “Runaway”, but the highlights remained the more traditional hip-hop leaning tracks, like “New God Flow”, “Nosetalgia”, and “Numbers on the Boards”, the latter serving as the close of the main set.
With his initial G.O.O.D Music era material given a comprehensive showcase, the encore was a chance for him to bring us into the new year with back-to-back brilliance from Darkest Before Dawn, starting with “Untouchable” and ending with “M.F.T.R” (one of our top tracks of 2015).
After that, it was time for Pusha to end the set the same way it started, pulling in the distorted bounce of “Move That Dope” to turn the crowd into a chaotic mosh-pit, only to calm it back down, and giving the “day one fans” a special treat, with Clipse classic “Grindin”, albeit a track that just isn’t the same without his brother.
Set List
I Don’t Like (Remix)
Blocka
Millions
Mercy
So Appalled
Runaway
Exodus 23:1
New God Flow
Pain
Nosetalgia
Sweet Serenade
Numbers on the Boards
Untouchable
Crutches, Crosses, Caskets
M.F.T.R
Move That Dope
Grindin’
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