Joaquin Phoenix & Kanye West Present: Pusha T - "King Push" (G.O.O.D. Music)
It's pretty damn awesome that Kanye & Joaquin Phoenix even hang out, let alone co-produced a track for Pusha T together; "King Push" is most likely culled from Phoenix's I'm Still Here era (2009-10), when he may or may not have quit acting to become a Hip-Hop producer/rapper. Pusha T previously lamented to Pitchfork back in August, "as soon as I heard it, I was like, 'Listen. I hope you're not playing this for me just to show me how good this beat is [Kanye]!'" It's a surprisingly Boom-Bap-rooted, Clipse-ready rattling beat, which it seems is now being pushed slightly ahead of My Name Is My Name's previous semi-questionable
Taking some much needed time off from Kanye's recent "I Don't Like" ranting spree(s), G.O.O.D. Music & DONDA unleashed "King Push'" companion music video mid-Friday afternoon. Directed by Nathaniel Brown (according to Vimeo), who implements muted colors juxtaposed against stark black-and-white washed scenes; the latter scenes vaguely resemble Pusha T's DONDA-designed alternate CD artwork. My Name Is My Name, the Virgina emcee's long-awaited and oft-delayed solo debut will finally see an October 8th release. Pusha T's assist-heavy album is rumored to feature the likes of Joaquin Phoenix, Rick Ross, Hudson Mohawke, John Legend, Ab-Soul, Kelly Rowland, Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell, and more... One of Phoenix's first motion pictures back since "returning" to film, Her, directed by Spike Jonze and co-starring Scarlett Johansson [voice only] will see a December 18th limited release, followed by a January 10th, 2014 wide-release.
* EDITOR'S NOTE: Joaquin Phoenix recently revealed to XXL that "While it was widely reported that Pusha T used my beat and that I produced his song, I can't take any credit. A friend's son played me his music, and all I did was make an introduction to Kanye's camp." Still a pretty damn awesome beat regardless; so, now the better question is, "Who produced "King Push!?'"