If kilograms is the groove
Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes
I done sold the golden goose
I got ’em, baby, I’m Jim Perdue
Cocaine’s Dr. Seuss
Yes, we all loved that line didn’t we? Exhibiting a veritable 100 gecs level of anticipating memeability, Pusha T must have known how much the ‘lol random’ crowd would eat that up. However, a later lyric in that same song is far more interesting:
The dope game destroyed my youth
Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes
Now Kim Jones Dior my suits
Now, I feel it’s important to let you know that Kim Jones is the artistic director for Dior. I wanted to let everyone know that to save you all the time I wasted trying to locate and make sense of the Kim Jong-Il/Un pun that isn’t actually there. Thank me later.
That line got me obsessing over what it highlights, what it was intended to highlight, and what that actually says about Mr T (not that one). Based on the context and who is saying it, you’d have to come to the conclusion that Pusha is reveling in the unlikelihood of his wealth, how he was once so dedicated to drug dealing that it defined his entire youth but now, look, I’m wearing a really expensive suit. It’s made by Kim Jong-Il, I believe. Celebrate that shit! But is that really the effect it has on the listener? We hear how Pusha lost his youth to drug dealing. That’s… not a good thing. This isn’t a moral judgement on drug dealing – a far more ethical and right minded profession than if he’d fallen into the wrong crowd and got into banking or being a landlord – but just that it’s sad when anyone has their youth stolen from them. If he was rapping about how he lost his youth to Pogs it would still be sad. Especially considering anyone younger than thirty would have no idea what you were talking about, like when my Mum tries and explain to me how she once bought a house. That’s not a thing that you can just do!! And yet what does Pusha have in exchange for sacrificing his entire youth? Premium champagne? Chanel scarves? “Cocoa leaf and potpourri’s/Chains over Le Coq Sportif”? Dude, you’re bragging about potpourri? You’ve got a really expensive coat? This is all you have to show for that sacrifice?
Meh, or maybe it’s all bullshit. The manager of Pusha T’s former band Clipse (listen to ‘Hell Hath No Fury‘ right now!!), Anthony ‘Geezy’ Gonzalez, was sentenced to thirty years in prison in 2010 for, very impressively, running a $20 million drug ring. After being released early, he gave an interview with Vlad TV stating that “95%” of all Pusha T’s band’s stories about drug dealing actually came directly from him. Someone’s telling porkies!
Anyway, this is a brilliant record. Succinct and minimalist but with maximalist effect. Oh, the places he goes.
Yeah, have you noticed that it has stopped embedding Spotify links? We’re gonna have to do it the long way, unfortunately.
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