It seems as though for rappers who used to be one half of a popular duo, going solo is the right idea. Look what it did for 2 Chainz. Splitting from Playaz Circle and changing his name did wonders for him. Now it seems the same thing is happening for Pusha T (minus the name change). For a long time, he was known as being one half of the group Clipse along with his brother No Malice. Together they had many big hits and three critically acclaimed albums: 2002's Lord Willin', 2006's Hell Hath No Fury (my favorite) and 2009's Til The Casket Drops. It was in 2010 where they went their separate ways for a bit. Now as a member of Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music army, Pusha T has gained tons of notoriety as a solo act. He's dropped some good mixtapes and has done dope guest features. Well now it's time to add another one to his solo resume. This is his second album My Name Is My Name. Now personally I enjoyed his 2011 debut album Fear Of God II: Let Us Pray. The album has a true dark and gritty tone which goes so well with Pusha T's lyrics and flow. The production also matched that. I pretty much expected the same kind of thing going into this album. Well...it turns out that wasn't quite the case. However, I still am thoroughly impressed with this album. It sounds like this time around, Pusha kinda mixes up different sounds and tone whereas the last album the whole thing had a dark tone. This album had a more of a better variety of different production, and even the content isn't stuck on just one thing. I say that because as much as I do like Pusha T, my biggest issue with him has always been him constantly rapping about drugs. Mostly cocaine (he even dropped a mixtape earlier this year titles Wrath Of Caine). Before, he couldn't barely spit one bar without mentioning things like coke, powder, white, kilos and all other kinds of references to cocaine. On this album he still talks about it but just not as much as he normally does. The album just shows how Pusha has now learned to balance his dark, haunting street lyricism with his newly found commercial side. That said, here are my positives. Off top, there were two songs that I liked so much that I couldn't decide which one I liked more. The first is the second single "Numbers On The Boards". This song is a prime example of why I believe Pusha is one the best street lyricists in hip hop today. On here he spits such dark and menacing lyrics that even though is spoken in low tone, it's still sounds loud enough to get you hype. His word play is so clever and intricate on here that it's mind boggling. But it's nothing new because this is what Pusha is known for. I also just loved the production. That eerie, distorted vibrating sound. Almost sounding like a Odd Future like beat. I even liked the Jay-Z "Rhyme No More" snippet in the middle of it. The second song was the closing track "S.N.I.T.C.H.". There was so much I loved with this song I don't know where to start. First, I loved the story being told by Pusha about a friend of his that while in jail with Pusha, snitches on him. Admitting it to Pusha that he did just to get an early release from jail. This ties in perfectly with the hook done by Pharrell. On it, he sings what the snitch acronym stands for: "Sorry Nigga, I'm Trynna Come Home". Which is essentially what a snitch in prison is thinking when snitching. Again, this goes along perfectly with the story Pusha is sharing. A very creative and cleverly done hook and song. Another incredibly dope song was "Nosetalgia". Pusha spits a very aggresive and evil verse on another eerie based production. But what stole the show was the outstanding guest verse from Kendrick Lamar. On his verse he cleverly compares himself to being cocaine. Speaking on his fathers drug dealing and how he should be the connect because everything he drops is a "brick" and he's "dope". Just more insanely clever lyrical story telling from Kendrick. Great song. "King Push" was the intro song and a great way to set the tone for the album. He drops more witty word play here from coming at the neck of today's rappers ("I rap nigga about the trap nigga I don't sing hooks") to comparing himself to Jay-Z, not as a rapper but as a drug dealer. I at first thought "Sweet Serenade" would be a attempt at a radio hit but it was far from that. It was a dope song with dope drum patterns and choir assisted background vocals. Chris Brown even does a great job with the hook despite distorting his voice. In fact, if I had heard this song without reading album credits I wouldn't have thought that it was Chris Brown on the hook. "Hold On" features Rick Ross and for the most part is a pretty cool laid back track. While I didn't like Kanye West's awkward humming ad-libs on this, it still didn't ruin the song thank God. Now my negatives. The beginning of this album was stellar, but right when it got to the middle things started to go left. Three songs in a row I did not like. The first was "No Regrets". This is where he trying to go after that mainstream sound but this type of track and production just does not fit him nor this album. Kevin Cossum's hook sounded very Kirko Bangz like and Young Jeezy's verse sounded very lazy and rushed. The next track is the Kelly Rowland assisted "Let Me Love You". Now for at least 90% of rappers, their biggest weakness is making good songs for the ladies. Pusha T is part of that 90%. The song took away all momentum from the album. This was the only song that sounded like a desperate attempt for a radio hit. Which honestly, Pusha doesn't need. On top of that, if I hadn't looked at the album credits I would have sworn Mase was on this. It sounded like Pusha mimicked his whole flow and voice. Just a bad song that did not belong on this album. Then there was the worst of them all, "Who I Am". This...was...terrible. It's mostly thanks in large part to the God awful guest verse from 2 Chainz and Big Sean. Neither said anything remotely good enough to be quoted. Then the song had this terrible "wooo" ad-lib that would even make Ric Flair face palm. The song was just absolute trash and should have been either a deluxe edition track or left off the album completely. To close, this album was definitely impressive. Thought it doesn't stick to the same dark tone as his last album, enough was presented to make this an album that was just as good. I give this a final grade of a B+. It seems that Pusha T, after a few years of experimenting, had finally found his lane as a member of G.O.O.D. Music. He is one of hip hop most witty and clever lyricists and it shows full well on this album. If he continues in this lane, plus the ties with his new team, Pusha T will never fall off. At this point, I could really careless for a Clipse reunion album, just give me more dope solo projects from "King Push". End.
Final Grade: B+
CREDITS
Executive Producer
Kanye West
Lead Artist
Terrence Thornton
Production
Kanye West
Sebastian Sartor
Donald Cannon
Charles Njapa
Kasseem Dean
Ross Birchard
Pharrell Williams
Ricardo Lamarre
Terius Nash
Bobby Yewah
John Glass
Emmanuel Nickerson
Dominick Lamb
Ernest Wilson
Collaboration
Christopher Brown
William Roberts
Rennard East
Terius Nash
Jay Jenkins
Kevin Cossum
Kelendria Rowland
Tauheed Epps
Sean Anderson
Kendrick Duckworth
Nayvadius Wilburn
Pharrell Williams
Label
G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam Recordings
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