Pusha T shocked fans recently when he hinted his next album will see him move away from the coke raps he has become famous for.
However, he still believes he’s one of the best spitters of cocaine-driven bars, a view he put to the test this week. During an appearance on Complex Brackets, Pusha T deliberated which of 16 noted coke raps is the best.
Show host, Brian “B. Dot” Miller had King Push debate songs including N.W.A’s “Dope Man,” The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ten Crack Commandments,” Gucci Mane’s “Bricks,” OT Genasis’s “CoCo” and more.
Pusha T Crowns The Best Coke Rap Song Ever
When it came to the winner, Pusha T selected his classic song, “Grindin’,” with his brother No Malice as The Clipse over Jeezy’s “Trap or Die.”
@PUSHA_T joins @bdotTM on #ComplexBrackets to crown the best coke rap song.
Watch: https://t.co/OPYYD647vf https://t.co/3RqLlZR0Xo
Produced by The Neptunes in 2002, “Grindin’” had kids drumming the beat in lunchrooms across America. While talking to B. Dot, Pusha T revealed he almost lost the song to Hov.
“I didn’t know that it was going to blow up, but I knew it was something special,” Pusha told B. Dot. “When Pharrell made the beat, he called me and said, ‘Hey if you don’t get to the studio right now, I’m going to give this beat to JAY-Z.’”
He continued, “‘And he was like ‘I’m talking about right now, you better get here in 20 minutes.’ I’m like ‘Listen, don’t trip I’m on my way.’ I go to the studio I heard it and I was like ‘It’s dope though, there’s something dope about it and I wrote it three times maybe four times but it just wasn’t right and I just finally found it.”
However, Pusha T revealed the song was a slow burner and took nine months of him and his brother doing private shows for dealers before it blew up.
“Me and my brother did $2,000, $3,000, $1,500 shows for every drug dealer in the country for nine months until it finally hit,” Pusha T said. “Those are the only people that knew what ‘Grindin’ was about.”
Despite believing he makes the best coke raps, Push may be steering in another direction on the project. “This album is abt feeding the conscious mind,” he explained to Spotify’s Head of Urban Music, Carl Chery. Pusha also revealed that his highly anticipated upcoming album includes a Jay-Z feature.
Relive the lunchtime classic below.