The song Pusha T said “embodied” his rap game: “No rules, no regulations”
Pusha T songs are never short of confidence. The Virginia rapper’s ethic has never changed since he became a known hip-hop figure, carrying the same principles of Lord Willin’, Hell Hath No Fury, and Til the Casket Drops into his solo albums, My Name Is My Name, King Push – Darkest Before Dawn, Daytona, and It’s Almost Dry.
King Push once revealed that one of his songs embodied his rap game. The ‘Grindin‘ artist finally released his debut album, My Name Is My Name, in 2013, climbing as high as number four on the Billboard 200 chart. The project included a Kanye West and Mano-produced track called ‘Who I Am’, which saw him collaborate with Big Sean and 2 Chainz.
He raps in the chorus, “Woo, they said be all you can be, n*gga/ Woo, they said be all you can be/ Always knew I could rule the world/ Let’s define what my world is/ Knee-deep in this dope money/ Damn near where my world ends/ Same block, same rock/ I was thinkin’ ’bout murdering/ I ain’t gettin’ my hands dirty/ Let you worry ’bout servin’ ’em.”
The song and album title reference a scene in The Wire in which Marlo Stanfield, played by Jamie Hector, says, “My name is my name,” meaning his name is his reputation. The line stuck with Pusha T and inspired his music. “He was just basically saying, ‘I am who I am. This is what I got. I stand on my name. I live this,'” Push explained to Hip Hop Since 1987. “And if you know anything about his character, he’s young, brash, amongst a lot of heavyweights.
“But he didn’t care about any of the past or history. He was like, ‘Man, I’m out here to get my money at all costs. No rules, no regulations. I’m here to compete.’ I just felt like that really embodied my presence in the rap game.”
Pusha T described My Name Is My Name as “album of the year” when it dropped on Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music label. During an interview with HipHopDX, he explained what characteristics an album needs to have to earn that title. “It needs to have car life,” he said. “When an album drops, I want to hear it in every car out in the streets at the moment. [It needs to have] lyricism, beats, college talk, school talk, corner talk and just shit like that.
“I’m feeling like those are all the characteristics I know for the album of the year. [Albums like] Doggystyle, Life After Death, Purple Tape [Only Built 4 Cuban Linx],” Illmatic, Reasonable Doubt—you know, things like that.”
My Name Is My Name was the follow-up to 2011’s Fear of God II: Let Us Pray EP. The album included features from Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross, Jeezy, Future, and Chris Brown, with production from heavy hitters like Pharrell, Swizz Beatz, The-Dream, and Nottz. It was the start of a new chapter for Push away from his brother, No Malice, going on to solidify his name as a solo artist.