Music Review: Daytona by Pusha T

When we heard that Kanye was producing and dropping five albums in the span of a month, leading with Pusha T’s latest album many of us, myself included did not think it was dropping when it was supposed to. It was bound to be pushed back…I was wrong. When I heard that each album was only going to be 7 songs, what album is complete after 7 songs??? Again, I was wrong. This leads to Pusha T’s sophomore solo album “Daytona”, an album so lyrically profound and complete that it deserves to be in the conversation for Album of The Year. Featuring a controversial cover of Whitney Houston’s bathroom and a reignited Beef between Pusha T and Drake, “Daytona” shows what Pusha can accomplish thanks to the “luxury of time”. With very little room, if any to argue why the album is not “Album of The Year” quality, this album set standards high for the rest of the GOOD Music releases to follow over the next month.

The opening track, “If You Know You Know,” finds Push reminiscing about his earlier days with references about his previous life as a drug dealer in bars like this, “This thing of ours, oh, this thing of ours/ A fraternity of drug dealers ringing off/ I just happen to be alumni/ Too legit, they still looking’ at me with one eye.” Pusha’s ability to still be able to rap about about the same thing is remarkable and is really seen on tracks like “Hard Piano” featuring Rick Ross and “Come Back Baby”.

“Santeria” featuring 070 Shake, one of GOOD Music’s newest signees is possibly my favorite track on the album. This track finds Pusha discussing the murder of his friend and road manager De'Von “Day Day” Pickett and how he copes with it. My second favorite, “What Would Meek Do” had me after seeing the name anxious to listen to this track. This song features a new Kanye West verse and finds Pusha making his claim as a Top 5 rapper and asking what would meek do in a challenging situation while Kanye speaks about some of his controversial statements he’s made in the news for recently.

The last track “”Infrared”, is a straight up diss track to Drake out for having ghostwriters and filled with references subliminally throughout the track. In summary, “Daytona” is 20 minutes of greatness that deserves the luxury of multiple playbacks and to be inserted into the Album of the year talks along with the likes of Nipsey Hussle, Royce Da 5’9” and J. Cole.