NEW YORK (AP) — Pusha T has been on a winning streak. In a year where rap easily dominated as music’s top genre, Pusha…
NEW YORK (AP) — Pusha T has been on a winning streak.
In a year where rap easily dominated as music’s top genre, Pusha T’s 21-minute, seven-track « Daytona » album moved the needle and became one of the most successful hip-hop projects of the year, he won his rap beef with Drake and he earned a Grammy nomination for best rap album.
As the rap star reflects on the year, he says: « I really can look back at 2018 and really look at it as a total win. »
« I didn’t start ‘Daytona’ to let anybody down and I feel like we definitely accomplished the mission, » he added. « ‘Daytona’ is rap album of the year. No one rapped better than me in 2018.' »
Pusha T, 41, has been making bold statements like those since he emerged on the music scene as one-half of the duo Clipse two decades ago, earning praise for his raw lyrical content and delivery.
He reached new heights this year when he exposed Drake on « The Story of Adidon » (Drake never responded to the burning diss track). The Kanye West-produced « Daytona » soon followed, debuting at No. 3 on the pop charts and landing on several critics’ year-end lists.
The album earned a Grammy nomination for best rap album in a highly competitive year, pitting Pusha T against Cardi B, Travis Scott, Nipsey Hussle and the late Mac Miller, and garnering a nod over acts like Drake, Lil Wayne, Eminem, J. Cole, Nas, Migos, DJ Khaled, Nicki Minaj and even West.
Pusha T said when the Recording Academy added a nomination review committee to the rap category last year to serve as an additional layer of checks and balances, he felt like he had a stronger chance of getting a nomination.
« Maybe not never in my life had I ever thought about getting a Grammy, but I remember hearing about it and saying, ‘Damn, man, that’s pretty dope. I can’t wait to see how that turns out,' » he said. « I was really impressed with the effort of the Grammy committee and how they were trying to change the way of doing things. Now when I look at the nominees, man, we got a tough category, and all of those albums are albums that I rock with.
