Review Summary: One from one.
When Kanye West returned to Twitter, it seemed like something was up. He had always had his moments on the platform, but the follow-up to his reappearance was, at times, too much. The collective cringe when Kanye continued to drag attention to himself in the worst ways possible did him no favours, but something felt… advantageous. He was pictured at a recording studio. The list of artists he was rumoured to be working with was expansive and lucrative. And then came the announcement. Albums. Lots of albums. One of which is this.
DAYTONA.
Seven of the best.
It feels odd reviewing an album that only contains seven songs, with only three of the songs breaking the three-minute mark. It’s short. Maybe a little too short. Sometimes ideas feel like they just suddenly drop off, begging to be expanded on more. But it’s a small gripe for an album containing some of the year’s best bars, beats and bangers. Pusha T has always had a knack for crafting fantastic lyrics, and with Kanye on the production duties, he takes it to another level. The album never lets up. The one-two punch of ‘If You Know You Know’ and ‘The Games We Play’ open the album with driving beats, flowing with Pusha effortlessly. It’s a common occurrence on
DAYTONA. Even the minimalist ‘Come Back Baby’ is gripped by Pusha’s vicious delivery;
”Rich flair before they was Ric Flair’s”.
The guest spots are even better; Kanye goes off on ‘What Would Meek Do’;
”No more hidin’ the scars, I show em’ like Seal, right?”; and the same for Rick Ross on ‘Hard Piano’;
”I keep the coldest flows on the hot seat/And you can spot my hoes by their car keys”. It all culminates in closer ‘Infrared’; perhaps the most cold-blooded Pusha has ever sounded. A low-key guitar line plays as Pusha lets rip in a verse that flows effortlessly;
"At the mercy of a game where the culture’s missing/When the CEO's blinded by the glow, it's different". Pusha doesn't sugarcoat, and it results in one of his most satisfying listens yet.
And although it passes in twenty-one minutes,
DAYTONA is vicious. The Pusha/Kanye connection has come up big, reigniting Kanye’s deft touch as a producer and giving Pusha even more evidence for naming him as one of the best modern rappers alive. It’s all so clean; no dull moments, no throwaway tracks. Just seven of the best from a duo that gets Kanye’s 2018 off to a near-perfect start.
One from one.
4.3/5
Recommended Tracks: If You Know You Know, Hard Piano, What Would Meek Do, Infrared
