• Pusha-T was writing his most recent street-rap masterpiece.
• It’s Almost Dry, he had two main goals in mind.
• Another goal for Pusha was to wrap up the recording process quickly.

Pusha-T was writing his most recent street-rap masterpiece, it’s Almost Dry, he had two main goals in mind. One was to follow up the “event” that was his third studio album Daytona, which was elevated in 2018 by a condensed seven-song tracklist, a fight he’s now gone past, and the promise that it would be his own Purple Tape (Only Built 4 Cuban Linx). Another goal of almost dry for Pusha was to wrap up the recording process quickly so he could be a good father. He adds of his young son Nigel Brixx Thornton, “I’m really working to get back home to him.”

At the age of two and a half, Nigel is beginning to understand what his father Pusha does for a career. He has even caught a glimpse of his dad on TV screens, laughing like the Joker while reciting rhymes about drug-dealing memories, his current opulent lifestyle, and the now-lifelong journey of fatherhood. He watched him in awe at DC’s something in the Water festival this past summer (with headphones on, of course). He understands, Pusha says. He understands that his father has both an artistic and a television element.

The self-described “Martin Scorsese of street rap” achieved both of those goals with It’s Almost Dry, which was nominated for best rap album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards this February. Easy. For the child who calls him “dada,” as well as for himself.

“I didn’t even know I could get more passionate about hip hop. And in having a son, and incorporating him, and the level of focus that he’s brought to my music, and the level of just structure and determination that he’s brought to my creative process — It’s like it’s laser-focused,” Pusha, real name Terrence Thornton, tells PEOPLE while reflecting on his year and eyeing Grammy night. “The focus has to be there because I know the music can’t lack. My son can’t have a wack rapper dad.”

Since Pusha T is already 45, he could never be a wack rapper, so Nigel needn’t be concerned when his father eventually shows up for parent-teacher conferences. That’s evident in his April album, a 12-song reminder of his talent that was equally produced by longtime friends Kanye West and Pharrell Williams (whose recent hate speech Pusha has disavowed).

According to Pusha, the process of creating the album last year with the two producers and a select group of deserving artists was a cross between a search for the “purest level of rap” and a “dialogue” filled with humorous lyrical references. Before we even started playing music, the chats would go on for an hour or more, he recalls. “School for rap nerds. Hip-hop addiction It may sound absurd, but that’s exactly what happened.”

References to Tom Brady, Puff Daddy, William Shakespeare, the Joker depiction by Joaquin Phoenix from 2019, which Pusha watched several times while the album was being created, LeBron James, Missy Elliott, and The Godfather Part II are all included. Actually, anything or anyone is amazing.

JAY-Z, Kid Cudi, and Pusha’s older brother Malice, who he first worked with in Clipse and who has since reconnected with for a number of appearances in 2022, from ComplexCon to the BET Awards, helped round out the “all-star cast” of And It’s Almost Dry with a degree of grandeur.

“Let’s add Hov to the mix. You know what I’m saying? Let’s bring my brother, who no one’s heard, and just show that that’s still there,” Pusha says of the album’s line-up. “I mean, I just feel like it was an all-star cast… You have people who love soul samples and me rhyming over that. People hadn’t really heard me play the composition-rap-song game like that with P. Not since [2002 album] Lord Willin’ era, [2006’s] Hell Hath No Fury, those types of things. And I feel like people didn’t know that they needed both.”

JAY-Z and Puffy, who Pusha also considers an all-timer with a “record-making background,” were among others who claimed to have heard the Grammy-nominated album first. “For the Notorious B.I.G., who is my favorite rapper of all time, has created timeless records. Therefore, all I have to do is get his ears on it. I require his ears “Pusha informs PERSONS. “The same is true of Hov. There isn’t a finer rapper lyrically. Naturally, I always make sure that they hear it, and the response is always fantastic, just like it was for It’s Almost Dry.

“Pusha aligns himself with greatness, seeks the approval of the greats, and sees himself as a great, too. His warranted confidence isn’t changing, just as he isn’t changing what it is he raps about after two decades in the game — his lived experience dealing drugs, and how that experience has shaped one of today’s (and yesterday’s) best storytellers in hip-hop. On album closer “I Pray for You,” Pusha puts this longevity into perspective, sharing “You can live forever when the s— you write is timeless.”

“Lyric-driven hip-hop never dies,” he says. “People like smart, articulate, hip-hop, regardless of what the subject matter is, regardless of the actual art of the metaphor, the similes, the parallels being drawn. People love it. They love it. Regardless of its street, regardless of its consciousness, it’s just a person having a favorite style of movie. Whether they’re into gangster films, whether they’re into romance films, horror, or whatever. [Fans] really let me know that what it is that I do is super relevant and super admired, and I appreciate it so much.”

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