I think adidas really understands that it's cool to be in business with the right people. It really feels like a bunch of creative minds rather than some rap guys stamping their names on a sneaker. We're arguing over shoes, ideas, and everything - it's like a tug of war.
— Pusha T
My hip-hop fans are a little spoiled - they want a particular level of lyricism and energy that I'm known for. When they don't get that, it takes a little time for them to open up to it. But electronic fans are as free as the music. On social media, they were so excited and loud; they're in awe.
I don't even know how to think about running out of things to talk about. Certain things are inescapable to me. I'm connected by the hip with so many things in the streets.
A good villain exudes charisma and power. He has principles, though; that just gives him a level of dimension. It makes him seem to be a bit unpredictable, because he's usually deemed as some type of evil, ruthless person, and then he shows you his principles, and you don't know what to think of it.
The crafting of lyrics is really a task, and when it comes to street culture, I don't feel like anyone else articulates it better than me.
As a writer, you're always trying to say the best thing. You're always thinking about what's the best thing to say, and what's the hardest way to say it, and what's the best line? Sometimes the best line is the simplest line. Sometimes the best line is the line that evokes more feeling than actual wordsmithing.
My vision for G.O.O.D. Music is just carrying on with the tradition of putting out high-quality music, high-quality art. G.O.O.D. Music is entrenched in the culture of hip-hop. It's entrenched in the culture, period.
Virginia Beach is just such a melting pot for so many different things, and they just have so many influences. I would always say that the area definitely influences Play Cloths. The area itself just has so many influences, whether it be fashion, music, everything.
I feel like, as far as streetwear goes, man, Play Cloths sits at a top-tier of quality, and your idea of luxury should not stop where you feel like you're at the obvious.
Me tweeting sometimes, it's like, I don't even remember what I say. It's just coming off how it's coming off.
I try to do records sometimes that have a different bounce - maybe it's a Southern bounce or something.
I think about nothing but business the whole time. Even when I go out to my after-parties, people are like, 'You're drinking water?' I'm like, 'Yeah I am.'
Allen Iverson is, like, my all-time hero.
I just start my day really early. Everything happens in the morning time. Writing. Just everything. I can't - I don't know how to work late.
I feel like I'm the last rap superhero. I really do. I feel like everybody else, they seem to be a bit victimized, and I don't feel like that's me.
People don't understand how long it really takes to find beats. Sometimes they're not all the way there, but it's elements in them I love. Then I get to take them to get chopped up. Ye got to cook over a few of them.
I've been going to Europe for some time on the festival circuit, and once you get in that element and see others reacting to it, it's easier to understand. You get trapped in the wave. The beats are driving and super-aggressive - like, so hard. I was curious.
I tell people that the Clipse were the first Internet rap darlings.
The Re-Up Gang mixtapes are going down in history, man. I still listen to them in my car, and the 'Hell Hath No Fury' album. I tell people all the time that I'll never make another album like that one again. Never!
My music is airy; it's spacious. It requires you to be able to rap and articulate your message over it. That's what the beat demands of you. Not a lot of people try to rap over my beats because it's a bit of a task.
I've always had some level of having to be independent outside of music because the music wasn't a smooth ride. We lost a lot in the mix: Everybody that I came in the music game with - friends I brought in with me - are all doing 10-34 years in jail. That's why if you want to get the real, you gotta get it from me.
'Darkest Before Dawn,' the short film, is basically the film of a man who faces the darkness when his back is against the wall and just about how miracles come in all forms, and even in your darkest times, it comes.
More than anything, Play Cloths has taken risks in regards to the pieces of clothing that we're even creating. We started out as straight T-shirts. It was just T-shirts and a couple cool things. Now, it's leisure pants, it's all types of clothing. We're evolving even with fashion trends on a super high level.
My fans like a certain quality and a certain level of music. Once I give it to them, they seem pretty happy.
I never understood why movies don't have to be as responsible, or the responsibility stops with Rated R. I feel like music, you gotta - you put the sticker on it, you make the clean version, then you're explaining yourself, and then you have to do charities to offset what you just said. No one else has to do this!
I've never been - I don't think I'm, like, a great A&R by any means. I don't even know production lingo, in all honesty.
I've got my travelling, my packing, my after-show activities all down to a science. I used to not work out on tour; now I take a trainer with me. I do things to make sure that I can give the crowd my all, because that's what I'm all about.
My mood board says that there should be a G.O.O.D. Music festival. Why not? Like, we haven't - I don't think - and I think all of the G.O.O.D. Music artists and affiliates are doing so many different things that we never get to Voltron up. So that would be a thing of mine.
I got two stores, two streetwear stores, at home. Have to tend to those. Play Cloths. Have to tend to that business.
I feel like my lyrics are just dark and scathing. I feel like the lyrics on 'Darkest Before Dawn' are uncompromised hip-hop and really speaking to my core fan base. Basically what's been known in my discography the entire time.
Some of the greatest hip-hop artists have incorporated elements from electronic shows into their setup. People are taking notice. It's going to be a new wave.
G.O.O.D. Music is on top because G.O.O.D. Music is the culture. When you think of, you know, just every aspect from music, influence, fashion, art level. If it's not G.O.O.D Music, then it's somebody who was influenced heavily by G.O.O.D. Music.
When we were growing up, I got kicked out of Timbaland's house every day. He was the DJ for my brother's rap group in junior high school. So I was 7, and while Tim's DJ'ing and my brother's rapping, I'd be upstairs dancing.
By now, you should know what you're getting with Pusha T. I've been in this game since 2002, and my name says it all. You know I'm only moved by a certain style of rap. Not that many other styles move me. You have to really be a rapper's rapper for me to like it.
I make a timeless music. I think I've made my mark as a lyricist and as an innovator and as a tastemaker.
Oh, I'm up at 6:00 A.M. every morning because I have a lot to do. Plenty. I work out probably at, like, 8:00. I gotta eat at 6:00 so, therefore, I can workout at 8:00.
Biggie is my favorite rapper, for sure. No other artist has impacted me that much.
Pharrell has definitely influenced my style in regards to streetwear. Simply because we're from that era that Nigo and A Bathing Ape started. That's where it all started at for us.
When you make albums like I do, and it's based off fanfare and based off touring - I make these albums, and I get on the road. It's not really a radio-driven thing. I get on the road, and I see my fans, and I touch each and every last one of them.
I see people doing things in their Blackberrys, and I need paper. Lines. Alphabets. I need to see it. It's so elementary, man.
I caught the U.S. Open a couple of times, but, man, I would love to catch Wimbledon and watch Nadal - he is the king of all kings.
Playing a room, it's a real dictator-type situation - you can really move the crowd the way you want to. In a festival, there's a sea of people, and it's harder to lock in on any one group.
I had a really successful 2013, '14, '15. Touring, just doing my thing. Super - I mean, can't complain about nothing. And my road manager got killed. And it ruined everything. Now, I tell people - I don't know if this is a word. But I tell people that that re-sensitized me.
I just look at capitalizing on everything that I feel like G.O.O.D. Music brings to the music industry, our following, and the culture. First of all, we have incredible artists. It's definitely about getting those albums out in a very manicured fashion.
I felt like when I got with Kanye, and we discussed me being on G.O.O.D. Music, he just really took me to a place in regards to music that I love and music that I had made previously. We had a clear understanding of what I wanted to make, and he just seemed like he was an advocate for hardcore, uncompromising hip-hop.
