Good luck letting these go in normal conversation.
Yesterday, Pusha T‘s highly anticipated debut album, My Name Is My Name, hit stores and for most involved, it represented the finish line of an extraordinarily grueling marathon. Officially signed to Kanye West‘s exploratory–to say the least–G.O.O.D. Music label since the latter part of 2010–partly thanks to Pusha T’s viciously good contributions to West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album–the cornrow-clad half of The Clipse won over the hearts and ears of those not completely sold on his talents as a solo artist with scene-stealing verses, scarily good music videos, and the same audacity he brought to the table when he and his brother rapped circles around the entire industry on their 2005 album Hell Hath No Fury. Despite the lead single dropping almost a year ago, The The Wire-inspired My Name Is My Name title suggests exactly what the album speaks to: Pusha T is Pusha T, whether his triple-XL sweaters read “You Know What I Sell” in white block letters, or imitations of Michelangelos’ Sistine Chapel The Last Judgement artwork are carefully articulated on an oddly cut silk shirt priced at or more than a grand. The lyrics, subsequently, are snapshots of this exact thematic scheme, and these one-liners serve as a road map to one Thornton brother’s LP.