“Make America Great Again Hats Are This Generation’s KKK Hoods,” Pusha T Speaks on Kanye, Drake and “Daytona”

—blogged by @lovelikejhoney

G.O.O.D. Music rapper, #PushaT, sat for an interview with British newspaper, The Guardian, where he discussed differences with his mentor, #KanyeWest, and the response to his recent album, “Daytona.”

Aside from music, in his spare time, Pusha advocates for prison reform and even appeared in a debate with director, #AvaDuVernay, where they discussed the U.S. prison system. Furthermore, the Virginia rapper worked heavily on the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election. So when Pusha’s career advisor and longtime friend, Kanye, publicly endorsed Donald Trump and his running slogan “Make America Great Again,” fans were eager to hear Pusha’s viewpoint.⠀⠀⠀⠀

“The ‘Make America Great Again’ hat is this generation’s Ku Klux Klan hood. When was America so great anyways? Name that time period?” Pusha declared despite his close working relationship with Ye who was recently pictured wearing a MAGA hat. He continued with admitting that the two artists “disagree on plenty of shit”, including the controversial comments West made about slavery on TMZ Live.

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“Well, when he did TMZ, I flew to Wyoming the next day [to confront him],” Pusha told The Guardian. “We spoke about insensitivity. The actual messaging. Where I felt he went wrong. You can’t even paraphrase about situations and issues that are so personal to people. When it comes to death and real-life people and persecution and things where families have been divided, you have to be more careful.”

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However, Pusha did express some sympathy with West when he later explained that his TMZ comments were taken out of context. 

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“I feel like the keywords in what he said were so strong and powerful, that it doesn’t let you get into the nuances, the underlying perspective. Or even wanna hear how he’s thinking.” He continued, “I told him that if you’re really trying to get a point across, you have to be mindful a little bit about what’s gonna tick people off, so you can get to your end goal.” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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The interview also touched on Pusha’s third studio album, #Daytona, which debuted No. 3 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and sold over 77,000 copies within the first week. 

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“We were calling it therapy,” Pusha said as he described the making of the album. “The goal was to recreate feelings. I dove into a bag of my favourite music: RZA, Scarface, D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill. If it didn’t have this feeling, it didn’t make the album.” Given the time restraint, the experienced MC had to learn to rely on instinct, a creative process that he said felt “unorthodox, disruptive, urgent”. 

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He also mentioned his recent beef with long-time adversary Drake which led to his album closer “Infrared” and a follow-up diss track titled, “Story of Adidon.”

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“He said what he said, I said what I said, now it’s done. It stayed how it was supposed to stay, just words,” Pusha smiled. “It was definitely good for hip-hop. What has been more energetic than this?” ⠀⠀

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On Drake’s new album, #Scorpion, he confirmed Pusha’s revelations about his child on at least three records. When asked if he would listen to Scorpion, Pusha responded:

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“Hell yeah! I gotta have something to compare Daytona to, don’t I?”⠀⠀⠀⠀

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What rating do you think Pusha gave for Drake’s new album, #Scorpion? Comment below!