It’s Almost Dry, Pusha-T

By Leo Hewitt-Provost

04/22/2022

There is a unanimous agreement in hip-hop right now, nobody quite embodies the Narcos-like lifestyle that Pusha-T does. We can always count on Pusha-T to make his presence felt in ways other rappers could only dream off. For more than 20 years, he has been a beast in his own right, from having resounding flows and always needing the best production available to him to delivering some of the most Quotables bars of all time, it’s clear that Pusha-T doesn’t need to prove a whole lot anymore. Yet, one element in It’s Almost Dry is throwing me off, and it is quite a tricky one.

I was originally going to base my review off of my initial thoughts, which were not what I expected to say the least, but decided to sleep on those thoughts (literally) to write a more argumentative review.

Pusha-T hadn’t released any project since Daytona in 2018 so it was only right to expect big things. But with a lot of anticipation can arise anything, perhaps I shouldn’t have been this excited, as I have known for years that Pusha-T doesn’t talk about flowers and chocolate but explicit topics in abundance. And whilst that will never bother me one bit, it was ultimately the structure of the album that I found to be very awkward.

The production of It’s Almost Dry principally comes from Pharrell Williams and Kanye West, who both have their own touch.

The project contains 12 tracks, of which 3 of them were released before the 22nd. Diet Coke released a few weeks prior and was the epiphany to Pusha-T’s comeback, the track is short, catchy but concise. When you hear the piano playing, you know there’s gonna be a murder. The second single released was Hear Me Clearly featuring Nigo, which was also used for Nigo’s I Know NIGO! project last month, Hear Me Clearly is a 2-minute track where Pusha-T sounds menacing, like we all know him to be.

I would like to iterate that I have a huge admiration for each track on the body of work, the production on songs like Brambleton and Let The Smokers Shine The Couples is simply too good, and whilst tracks like Call My Bluff still doesn’t sit well by me, I am hoping this changes in the future.

After cutting ties with Kid Cudi because of his friendly relationship with Kim Kardashian’s new lover Pete Davidson, Kanye West fans were quick to react to the feud between Ye and Cudi. Many took sides, whilst the most logical thing was to wait until both artists settled their differences in private. This didn’t happen, and Cudi announced on Twitter that Rock N Roll was to be their last collaboration, iterating his friendship with Pusha-T, as he sent his part of the song to the Virginian rapper a year ago.

But the track didn’t really do it for me. Pusha-T carried the song and Kid Cudi’s presence up until the last 30 seconds felt slightly unnecessary, Ye doesn’t address anything particularly new, and everything just seems a bit over the place, as opposed to previous tracks, which had multiple layers and worked in their transitions.

I enjoyed listening to most tracks on the album, Dreamin Of The Past featuring Kanye West is refreshing, and songs like Neck & Wrist, Open Air and I Pray For You are amongst my favourite three tracks.

But a second listen did not change how I was feeling at all, from the 12-track album a couple of them didn't sit right with me, and whilst I could appreciate how versatile Pusha-T is, I didn't feel like I was listening to a cohesive piece of work. Every single track on the album holds high standards and when picking each song apart, I don’t find any issues, but pieced together, I am still struggling to understand what the theme of the album is and how they all correlate. You could throw the argument that “It’s Pusha-T, he doesn’t need a theme because there is only one reason we wanna listen to him” but I think this is a pretty narrow-minded argument. I always cherish both Pharrell and Ye’s production, everything they touch turn into masterpieces, but the two of them working on this project doesn’t work.