Review: Pusha-T – Fear of God
Pusha-T – Fear of God (2011) [G.O.O.D. Music] // Grade: C -
“I can’t be bothered with paying homage to forefathers/see the future in the car show floor models”
He said it, not me. Dude is more concerned with the cars that rap money can buy than he is with hip hop. Kool DJ Herc didn’t invent the merry-go-round and wind up laid out in the hospital so Pusha-T can insult him while caking off his legacy. Afrika Bambaataa didn’t perform Planet Rock in an Indian headdress so Pusha-T can buy rapper outfits at Barney’s. DJ Grandmaster Flash didn’t build his own mixer with a headphone monitor so Pusha-T can have fancy cars with gullwing doors. I don’t see the point of this mixtape, it comes off as rushed, and under-considered. There’s some decent music on here, but I just can’t stomach this kind of shit anymore. I can no longer turn a blind eye to the blatant disrespect for the fans, and the people of this country. This record is shrouded in the most selfish, destructive, myopic, and shallow rants that this young man could muster. And since when do major label artists release stuff that sounds like it was mixed a Full Sail student in their first week of class? Considering that he’s signed to one of the biggest rap labels out there right now, and this is his first project to drop with G.O.O.D., I don’t see how anyone signed off on this. It’s completely unprofessional. The tracks that weren’t intended as radio singles sound like they posted an ad on craigslist, and just hired the person willing to mix it for free.
The record is split into a handful of radio singles, and a handful of fake freestyles. HE’S CALLING THEM FREESTYLES BUT THEY’RE FUCKING REHEARSED. It’s just not the kind of quality you’d expect from a dude who does this shit for a living, and claims to be coming for his overdue comeuppance . But it makes perfect sense as the product of someone who doesn’t care about the music, and really cares about how he is perceived. Why would it matter if you can hear the beats? Why do you need to experience the music? Just listen to what dude says, and believe him. But even that is difficult, as he’s vacillating between talking about making $14,000 off of coke the weekend after the Grammys, and wishing he could still sell coke (“I still wanna sell kilos”). Come on bruh, either you is or you aint, you aint is AND aint.
Somehow this is not surprising though. I feel like this mixtape marks the beginning of the end for this kind of rap’s place at the top of the charts, and the public’s fascination. If dude doesn’t care enough to get his records mixed right how much does he really care about rapping? Is he making a record, or is the record just a pre-requisite in some money making scheme of simulacrum within simulacrum? If dude spends the whole record talking about selling drugs, and making money, how much does he care about making music, or living a life full of worthwhile experiences? Not that there’s anything wrong with selling drugs, or making money—not inherently at least—but when there’s plenty talk of this superficial stuff, how much of the record is dedicated to creating great content, and talking about the many things that a citizen of the united States experiences in life?
None. Zero. This record has little to do with music, and a whole lot to do with a man creating a fictional self-portrait. For Pusha this is his personal apotheosis in the media age. This record isn’t about developing dope styles (dude flips the same cadence for the whole record), mastering language (dun your similes are killing me), or participating in one of this country’s greatest cultural traditions—Hip Hop. This record is a testament to what happens when people stop getting real, and start living like they’re on a trumped up version of the real world.
I don’t find much in Jackson Pollock’s work. He was a drunk, and his paintings are the result of him thrashing about in a room with paint. There is a degree of gradation to what he does, but for the most part it’s all the same. Sometimes the splatters are bigger, or smaller, wilder, or tamer, but his paintings are all just paint splatters. No lines, no spatiality, no sentiment, and nothing to connect to, and very slim space in which to commune with the artist as a human. Pusha-T reminds me of Jackson Pollock. His raps lack depth, there’s nothing here for a human being to identify with except for the aspiration. We’re supposed to believe that his life is perfect, that we should all wanna be like him. Nah man, you a liar for that. Who can really identify with this specific brand of aspiration? We’re all aspiring, and hoping to make it into next year without being overcome by debt. We’re not aspiring to get that next Gallardo, that next Issey Miyake jacket, or some fucking worthless metal statue from a confederation of disconnected music industry goons.
It takes a truly depraved human being to insult someone for thinking that a $135,000 Mercedes was a $50,000 Range Rover, as he does on the outro to the Soulja Boy-sampling “Speakers Going Hammer.” He said the $135,000 was “Winter throwaway money.” Tell that to the kids that are starving because their parents are addicted to the drugs you’re supposedly pushing. If we’re to believe his claims of being a drug kingpin then he’s a chump, extorting his community with a self-aggrandizing agenda that seems more like Monsanto than Afrika Bambaataa. And if we don’t believe him, then he’s just concocted a very faulty fantasy reality. Is this the apex of imagination in 2011? To pretend you’re a coke kingpin who decimates a community? You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Any way you slice it dude is shallow as all the fucks.
What are we supposed to do? Put on this record and feel what? Are we supposed to agree with your freedom to be whoever you wanna be in this country? For sure. But I think we’d be fools to approve of how he’s choosing to exercise his freedom. The time for specialists with only one thing to offer has come and gone. So the idea that this record should be redeemed by Pusha’s place in the cadre of coke rap is simply not an idea that is current. Why the fuck do I want to listen to a record where some dude only has 1 thing to offer? Make some music dude, and try again when you’re ready to pay homage, and forget about your money and your cars, cause you done missed the mark with this. You have the ability to do something great, don’t blow it and wind up another grotesque exaggeration of this country’s most reproachable features.
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March 23rd, 2011 at 9:45 am
I hate how right you are about this mixtape.
March 23rd, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Well, why don’t you cry about it. Saddlebags.
March 23rd, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Damn so true
March 23rd, 2011 at 1:06 pm
I’m not even a huge Clipse/GOOD Music fan and I liked this tape. It’s cohesive enough to have an album vibe and doesn’t have that typical hodge podge of random shit.
Did it get a C- cause you expected Pusha to rap about something other than “fictional” garbage? Isn’t that what rappers do?
You didn’t like Can I Live, Raid, Alone In Vegas, My God?
Those songs sound pretty good to moi.
March 23rd, 2011 at 1:25 pm
It got a C- because if Pusha T is gonna back up his claims that he’s the best in the game right now, then this is not the mixtape of the person who is the best in the game right now. It got a C-for a lot of reasons, all of which I list in the review.
March 23rd, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Its sounds like a bunch of Clipse songs would without Malice on them, It’s not great but subject-wise what did you really expect? He is a coke-rapper and always has been.
March 23rd, 2011 at 2:47 pm
I expected to hear him step it up. He’s talking about how he’s coming to get the crown, and how he wants his recognition. If he wants to be at the top he can’t just be a coke rapper.
March 23rd, 2011 at 3:05 pm
I’m not saying it’s mind blowing, but I feel like you’re reading into it so tough.
If you’re going to hold him to his words then how can you even listen to ANY rapper?
They all claim to be the best, going for the throne, etc.
They all have conflicting lyrics.
Why hold just one dude to those measures?
Step it up?
What is he gonna step up from? He talks about selling cocaine and being rich.
I mean he could have really phoned this one in, but there’s some decent songs on it.
You make valid points about poverty, drug dealing, etc but apply that to everyone and you’re gonna have zero rap in your iTunes.
March 23rd, 2011 at 4:32 pm
This music isn’t good.
March 23rd, 2011 at 10:47 pm
@ anon I’m drawing the line. I’m tired of it. There was a time when rap had more vitality, and spoke to a greater range of human experience. But how do you take this mixtape seriously when the tracks aren’t mixed properly? Clearly Pusha doesn’t care about the music. He cares about how the music makes him look.
I can listen to Pill, Yelawolf, Kendrick Lamar, Lil B, Buck 65, Sole, Andre Nickatina, Freddie Gibbs, Das Racist, and plenty of other people and take them seriously. I have no shame in listening to Pill. He sells drugs. But he has a lot more to speak about. The idea that rap and the truth are mutually exclusive is shocking, but it’s become accurate for the most part. And it wasn’t always like that. And it doesn’t have to continue to be like that.
The complacency is what’s wrong with this picture. If we just keep consuming this shit it won’t change. But if we stop paying attention to it there is plenty of relevant stuff to focus on.
March 24th, 2011 at 1:47 am
bloglin needs a “like” button, ’cause that’s all i have to say about this review.
March 24th, 2011 at 6:18 pm
It’s coke rap. He didn’t invent it but it’s the niche he loves. It might be mega vacuous but that’s rap for ya. It isn’t Sole, or Buck 65 or any let’s get drugs of the streets and teach the youth to stay in school positive ideal boom bap.
And this music isn’t going ANYWHERE as long as there are ghettos and media conglomerates ready and willing to exploit them. America will always be fascinated by the stereotypical nihilistic black male.
“Don’t quote me boy cos I ain’t said shit.” – Eazy E
Hate on bro. I think the mix tape serves it’s purpose. It gives fans of Pusha T some good tunes. Not all of ‘em are good but some? Fire.
March 26th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
Yeah I think you’re reading into it a bit much. I like Pusha T and most rap because of the fictional shit I will never experience. This is like me hating on my favorite metal band because I know for a fact they’ve never actually slayed dragons…
March 26th, 2011 at 10:46 pm
Yall use the word “hate” to freely. I’m critiquing, not hating. But obviously, you’re not reading, You look for a point to counter, then counter it, regardless of what I’ve said.
“It isn’t any let’s get drugs off the street,” I didn’t ask for that. Not by any means, as you can see in my review I said i don’t have a problem with selling drugs. I would love to see Pill get the kind of shine that Pusha is gettingm, because Pill is real as fuck. But he isn’t.
And typifying Sole and buck 65 as “positive ideal boom bap” shows that you don’t have much of a clue what those dudes are about. I know for a fact that Sole has never advocated for anyone to stay in school, nor has he ever been on that positive preachy bullshit.
Just cause you don’t see the light, doesn’t mean everything you look at is in the dark Rudie.
I didn’t say this music was going anywhere, nor do I expect it to. What i did say is that its place at the apex of pop culture is coming to a close. You can refute that if you want, but time will tell.
March 26th, 2011 at 10:49 pm
There are so many more stories in the ghetto than the one about the dude who makes a bunch of money selling drugs. Why is this the only one we hear? Because nobody demands another one.
March 28th, 2011 at 10:23 pm
you said Lil B is better than Pusha T? Fuck outta here LOL
March 30th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
No, he said he can listen to Lil B and take him seriously. He never once said one was better than the other.
April 1st, 2011 at 8:39 am
Pusha is way more than a coke rapper. Listen to Nightmares, The Funeral or Freedom just to name a few songs. This mixtape just seems like a commercial way to position him as THE coke rapper, to a broader audience than he has previously appealed to as part of The Clipse. This is tamer, more direct and way easier than The Clipse.
April 3rd, 2011 at 8:58 pm
I was reading reviews for this mixtape, hoping to find one that was more critical than the rest. So, thank you!
April 4th, 2011 at 7:14 pm
Let’s face it. Coke rap or not, pusha spits his heart. The mixtape is just push being honest. Yeah, his world revolves around coke but that’s who he is. Whatever you wanna say about this tape, he’s not posing. He’s representing how he lives. And I hate thug shit. But it’s a testament to his skills that I enjoy his music and I believe him. I feel so many rappers are liars. With Clipse (especially Hell Hath No Fury) I feel they are telling the truth about how they live. Do you ever doubt the authenticity of Ghostface or Biggie? No because the level of detail that goes into their stories makes it sound as if its something they actually went through. And even though I love Weezy I’ve got my doubts about his “murderous” past. But to expect either member of Clipse to step their game up beyond coke rap is to ignore the fact that these dudes probably really do deal coke. And I think especially in Malice you can hear alot of pain and regret.