The rap album Pusha T called the “drug dealers’ bible”
Pusha T and lyrics about cocaine go hand in hand. Through his successful career as half of the Clipse and as a solo artist, the Virginia rapper hasn’t shied away from his experience selling drugs as a teenager alongside his brother, No Malice.
One album that was released in 1995 felt like the ultimate soundtrack for a drug dealer, according to Pusha T. Raekwon released his debut album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… (also known as The Purple Tape) that put everything that Wu-Tang Clan embodied into a perspective for the streets.
“Cuban Linx was the drug dealers’ bible,” Push told Complex. “It eliminated a lot of gloss. It was way too real. All of Wu-Tang was really unorthodox, but Rae put everything in a street perspective so you could understand it. He incorporated the slangs, but it was fly. It was Polo, it was Snow Beach. It was all of that shit—they were the epitome of it.”
He continued, “They spoke the language musically, but at the same time, they embodied the whole culture of fly with the cars, the Infinitis. I don’t feel that they were the opposite of Mobb Deep. For that I would go with Hov.”
Pusha T has spoken highly about Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… on a number of occasions. His 2018 album, DAYTONA, was directly inspired by the 1995 album, with Push trying his best to emulate Raekwon’s body of work in his own form.
“When I’m saying ‘This is my Purple Tape,’ it’s like, to me, it was the best rendition that I could’ve tried,’” he told VEVO. “I don’t think I’ve ever been to Staten Island before, ever… something we were intrigued by when we heard all this music. We were like, ‘What the hell is going on out here? Like, ‘Where’s this level of creativity coming from?’”
From a distance, the former G.O.O.D. Music rapper admired Wu-Tang Clan, being impressed by their creativity and the ability to build their own language through the lingo they spoke. “I knew it was hood,” he said. “It gave you that hood perspective that we all thought, ‘OK, this is what’s going on outside where we’re from, but this is their version of it.’ I felt like we could connect and relate to it.”
He added, “You saw aspiration, you saw the hustle, but you also saw the hope for a brighter day. It was references to their kids, and their legacies and living and making sure they got out of it.”
It must have been a special moment for Pusha T when he got the chance to work with Raekwon for the first time. The pair collaborated on ‘Tick, Tock’ from the Man with the Iron Fists soundtrack, as well as G.O.O.D. Music’s ‘The Morning’, both in 2012.