S. Samuel
G.O.O.D. Music's Pusha T recently talked about Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah's presence on his crew's new Cruel Summer album and why Tony Starks' "New God Flow" blew him away.
According to Pusha, Ghost’s flow completely caught him off-guard after a first-listen.
“I heard the album on August 28th. I was just as shocked as you were,” Pusha T tells VIBE about the surprise Ghostface verse featured on “New God Flow.” “Everybody was brought in the studio and told to sit down, and [Kanye] played it. And they all just watching me. He’s telling me ‘Listen to the new mix! Whatcha think about the new mix of it?’ Man, when Ghost came on I fainted. He killed it.” The track contains a classic sample from Ghostface’s “Mighty Healthy” record, which was released on his sophomore album, Supreme Clientele. To this day, Pusha says these vets are still some of the best in the business. “We said that Ghost and Raekwon have the most timeless flows in hip-hop,” Pusha T continues. “It’s beautiful.”(VIBE)
Around its release, Pusha T proclaimed it one of the best compilation albums in ages.
In the days immediately following the album’s release, more than a few reviews continue to nitpick at Kanye’s work on Cruel Summer, accusing him of giving it a half effort, but Pusha is clear about his thoughts on the project. “I definitely feel like Cruel Summer lives up to the hype,” he says. “I definitely feel like Cruel Summer is the best compilation album of all crews to drop compilation albums. The music level is totally the upper echelon of hip-hop music.” (MTV)
Recently, Kanye West talked about tagging Wu members Raekwon and Ghostface Killah.
“One track might have 30 people’s opinions on it. It’s not just about a tracklist and a name. It’s about the communion style of work. We spend just as much time working on the actual album packaging, as the video concept, as the song. Everything is equally as important. It got to a point where I had to the album artwork in front of me while I was working on the songs, and I would listen and say, ‘Does this song sound like this packaging looks?’ It was like a dream for Pusha to be on a record with Ghostface, for CyHi to be on the same record as Raekwon and Common. Now, we’re making music to create to, music you’re listening to on your way to work so you can deal with your boss, music you can listen to because you’r’e the boss and can deal with your employees. We take it very that we make the best product we can but also we’re light with it too. We just want to have fun, commune — the whole thing is about empowerment. We’re just trying our best, that’s all you can ask for. This isn’t the beginning of the conversation, this isn’t the end of the conversation. It’s our offering as a collective of a sonic snapshot of what’s happening right now, 2012. This cruel summer.” (Kanye West)
In week one, the star-studded LP pushed over 200,000 copies.
G.O.O.D. Music’s Cruel Summer compilation debuted this week at No. 2 behind P!nk‘s Truth About Love (250,000). According to Nielsen SoundScan, the star-studded LP sold 205,000 in its opening week. (SOHH Sales Wrap)
Check out Pusha T’s interview below:
