Johnny Nunez/WireImage
Pusha T Speaks Out on Kanye West: 'It's Been Disappointing'
Pusha T is breaking his silence about Kanye West.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Push spoke out for the first time about the controversy surrounding his longtime friend and collaborator.
He admitted that Ye’s hateful comments have impacted him, and makes no excuses for his behavior.
“It’s definitely affected me. It’s been disappointing,” said Push. “As a Black man in America, there is no room for bigotry or hate speech. So yeah. It’s been very disappointing, let’s talk straight.”
Pusha is just one of the few of Ye’s peers to speak out in the wake of his hateful outbursts including racist, anti-Semitic language.
During the interview, Push also reflected on his friendship with West, who executive produced his chart-topping album It’s Almost Dry alongside Pharrell Williams.
“Creatively, Ye has meant freedom to me,” he said. “A lot of times, people would try to get me to change certain things about my process, change certain things about me lyrically, change certain things about the content. He never has been like that. He always saw me for who I was and knew how to take it to the next level.”
Released in April, It’s Almost Dry earned Pusha his first No. 1 album and another Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album.
“With It’s Almost Dry, it was to make the purest, most uncompromised hip-hop album I could,” he recalled. “That meant the lyricism had to be A-1, and I felt it would be eventful to pit Pharrell Williams versus Ye. These two producers are hip-hop at its purest core. The passion between the three of us alone is enough to know that you’re gonna get the album of the year.”
Hip-hop has lost some of its brightest young stars in recent years including Takeoff, Pop Smoke, Young Dolph, and PnB Rock. Push, who welcomed his son Nigel in June 2020, admits he is more calculated with the way he moves.
“I definitely move with caution. Like I said, I’m always trying to get home to my son,” he said. “Some of the risks that I used to take, just being out and about for no reason at all, I don’t really do that too much. It has been very sad to read about all this young talent that’s passed away. You don’t even have to know people to feel that.”