DAYTONA, Pusha T's new album (replacing of the originally planned King Push) contains his strongest solo material to date. Despite a run time so short it barely qualifies as an album (21 minutes), it's the best 21 minutes Push has recorded since he and Malice as Clipse made Hell Hath No Fury.
Lyrically and topically, DAYTONA is not far removed from Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude, but he does offer slight variations from his usual style occasionally, and they're welcomed. Push is well known for his cocaine-raps, essentially being the flag-bearer for songs about drug dealing in the 2000's, and while those do of course show up here, his insights into more personal topics - the death of his road manager on 'Santeria', referencing Meek Mill's incarceration (whilst also giving Kanye West a guest spot to talk his shit again) on 'What Would Meek Do?' or even the Drake shots on album closer 'Infrared' do much for the album. The remaining four songs are the usual for Push, referencing his drug past and the subtleties around it. Pusha raps excellently - it's what he does. However, as consistent an MC as he is, the show-stealer of DAYTONA isn't Push - it's the production. Kanye West, notorious for his insistent perfectionism, has manned the decks entirely for this album (for the first time in a very long time) and my god, has he performed. It seems he has stepped into his old-Kanye shoes, as these beats sound exactly like instrumentals he would have made for Jay-Z in 2001. Standout 'The Games We Play' is his strongest instrumental in years - the blaring horns and bouncing keys make for the grooviest and catchiest beat I've heard all year, but it still perfectly matches Pusha's lower register and clever references to crack - "This is for my bodybuilding clients moving weight / Just add water, stir it like a shake". This beat would have blended so seamlessly into Hell Hath No Fury, if I didn't know better I could be convinced it was a leftover from 2006. 'Santeria' is another instrumental highlight, flipping the ticking hi-hat that has become so overused in mainstream trap music into a sinister backdrop for Pusha T to speak to the spirit of his murdered road manager, De'Von Pickett. The chorus is similarly haunting, featuring tortured spanish vocals from 070 Snake. When Pusha returns to the track for his final verse, just as the instrumental seems to quiet down to give him room, Kanye hits the kill-switch mid verse and the beat switches instantly into a spiralling abyss of punching drums, crashing cymbals, and swirling darkness, creating an epic moment, and proving that the Kanye West who produced 'So Appalled' & 'Monster' still exists. Kanye has catered perfectly to Pusha T's style, delivering by far his best instrumental palette since 2010's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and this is the strongest album he has produced for another artist since Common's Be. Nowhere has Kanye attempted any zany, abstract, left-field experiments that shoot themselves in the foot - like, for example, his last album - instead focusing purely on creating the music that he knows works with the artist. Push fits these instrumentals like a glove, flowing effortlessly over the rumbling bass of 'Come Back Baby', another beat-switching track that swaps between the aforementioned and a lighthearted chorus sung by a George Jackson sample, while also sounding fantastic on the softer, ironically-yet aptly titled 'Hard Piano', working both ends of the spectrum with ease. The only crutch of DAYTONA is the runtime. Shorter than most EP's, the album has only just started before it's already halfway through, and with the quality of material here, who knows what kind of experience we could have been given on a 30-40 minute-long version of this album. That being said, this album is proof that cutting excess to leave only the best material, even at the expense of album length, can lead to a more cohesive listen. Perhaps a longer DAYTONA wouldn't have been better, but the DAYTONA that we did get is still a great album. Push and Kanye have created some of 2018's best rap music, and the only thing that keeps me from praising this album further is that I wish that is was longer, which is never a bad critique to have. 85/100 |
201820162015Scores0-30 = Bad
31-49 = Sub-par 50-60 = Average 61-70 = Decent 71-80 = Good 81-89 = Great 90-99 = Incredible 100 = Perfect Archives
September 2018
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