The Witzard

View Original

EVERYTHING IS PUSHA T: Pusha T & Kendrick Lamar - "Nosetalgia" (G.O.O.D. Music)


I guess you could say that I'm a modern-day musical "purist" in a sense because I don't usually like to hear a whole bunch of pre-release teaser singles before hearing an artist's entire new album. Take My Name Is My Name, for example: I only heard "Numbers On The Board" and "Who Am I?" before picking up a hard copy of Pusha T's debut solo album on October 8th. G.O.O.D. Music recruited a handful of completely unnecessary guest features , which are now strewn across Pusha T's 12-track record including Kendrick Lamar, Big Sean, Rick Ross, Kelly Rowland, and former Drake tour-mate Future. Pusha T & DONDA rapidly unleashed music videos for "King Push," "Sweet Serenade," "Nosetalgia," and "Pain" right around or leading up to My Name Is My Name's eventual wide-release. Recent BET Cypher all-star Kendrick Lamar appears right alongside Pusha T in the black-and-white NPR-assisted "Nosetalgia" clip.


It's all anchored by a guitar-driven Soul-Funk sample pulled from Bobby Bland's 1973 cover of "(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don't Wanna Be Right," most famously performed by either Luther Ingram or former heart-throb Tom Jones. "Nosetalgia" is a very powerful, vivid-looking music video, even though the bulk of it is a largely action-less cinematic walk-along with Pusha T & Kendrick Lamar. It's most enjoyable lines, for me at least, occur when they almost effortlessly shout-out 2 vastly different 1980-90's coming-of-age flicks: " Black Ferris Bueller cutting school with his jewels on / Couldn't do wrong with a chest full of chains and [an] arm full of watches... You wanna see a dead body? / Instrumentals for my mama's Christmas party." While they've definitely seen both contrasting sides of Coke-Rap, Pusha T & Kendrick Lamar really seem to have a lot in common and simply rap well together; One of the most seasoned rappers in the game, the former Clipse emcee could likely teach Lamar a thing or two and help guide him down a path to lyrical longevity. Kendrick Lamar & Pusha T will both be headed out on the road with Kanye's long-awaited Yeezus Tour (Oct. 19-Dec 7th), which will supposedly showcase A Tribe Called Quest's "FINAL 2 joints where [they] started... New York City."