The producer Pusha T found difficult to work with: “Harder for me”
Pusha T has worked with Pharrell and The Neptunes for years and has extensive experience with him in the studio. The lyricist came to the forefront as one-half of the famous rap duo Clipse that spawned out of Virginia Beach in the late 1990s — Pharrell’s hometown.
With his brother rapping as a duo in their local area, they actually rose to fame alongside Virginia Beach natives The Neptunes, who frequently featured on their projects. In fact, the groups are so tethered to each other that Pharrell Williams helped Pusha T secure his first-ever record deal.
Pusha’s commercial viability and initial success came from the Neptunes-produced hit ‘Grindin’, which, in 2002, was the lead single off their debut album, Lord Willin’. The project, which debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, saw the start of a beautiful musical relationship, and ever since, the pair have been working together.
Pusha T’s 2022 album It’s Almost Dry saw the ultimate hip-hop hybrid as the rapper recruited both Pharrell and Kanye West to carefully craft his instrumentals. However, they had different approaches when working with the former Clipse member.
In an interview, Pusha T delved into the details concerning how the two culture-shifting producers are different, beginning, “Kanye and Pharrell love two very different things about me. Pharrell’s approach is a little bit harder for me to capture ’cause it deals in cadences and melodies and character.”
He continued, “And Kanye just wants bars. He wants Re-Up Gang, mixtape Pusha: ‘Just give me all your raps and let me mould them into what I want to mould them into. And I’mma edit your shit, do a whole bunch of shit to your shit.’ You got the best of both worlds on this one project.”
However, Pusha T admitted that when he works with Pharrell, he likes him to embody movie characters, unveiling, “Pharrell really wanted a character for ‘Call My Bluff.’ He was like, “I’m getting regular Pusha T; I need some character. You have to lay this differently.” We were watching Joker every day while creating the project. Pharrell was like, “Man, this is who you are anyway. You’re actually this guy.” That’s why you get that tone — me saying very eerie, evil, demonic things very, very matter-of-factly.”
During an interview with Mass Appeal, Pusha T recalled his early days with Pharrell, stating, “Pharrell actually gave me my name. At the time I wasn’t actually rapping; I was hustling and I used to go to the studio with Pharrell all the time. He would come out of the control room looking for me to play something, and I would be gone [selling drugs], and when I get back, he would be like, ‘Pusha c’mon man!'”
He continued to explain how everyone in Virginia Beach knew each other, adding, “Tim[baland] was in my junior high school. He was just Tim. We talk about it all the time because I actually record in Tim’s studio today. Then I had a homegirl, and Pharrell wanted to date her, so we met and then he was like, ‘Wait a minute! That’s your brother?!’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, I rhyme with Timbaland.'”