Low in calorie, high in contoversy…
[Video]
[6.57]
Andy Hutchins: Lord Willin’ turns 20 this August. Pusha rapped “The news called it crack, I called it Diet Coke” in his first quatrain of the imperial “Hello New World” in 2006. Kanye’s Pusha-adjacent “She stopped drinkin’ Diet Coke: She on that coke diet!” bar on the hysterical, relentless “Everyone Nose” remix is from 2008, long ago enough that Wikipedia advises that the remix was a Zune Marketplace exclusive track for N.E.R.D.’s Seeing Sounds. That all of those came from the decade before last conveys how long Pusha’s been doing this even better than mentioning he’ll turn 45 in May — and yet, were it not for apparent necessities of street economics, that could be the number on his jersey. “Diet Coke” finds him having as much fun playing with words and telling tales of powder-pitching as ever: The Fat Joe sampling is too cute, sure, but the descending piano (from an apparently ancient 88-Keys instrumental) works beautifully, and Push has things both defiantly gleeful (“Missy was our only misdemeanor!”) and elegiac (“The crack era was such a black era / How many still stand and reflect in that mirror?”) to say, both within and beyond the confines of his excellent Biggie-tracing flows. The critique that faults him for making at least a couple songs like “Diet Coke” for practically every project has merit, but misses the point: They don’t make ’em like Pusha T anymore, and he does this as well as anyone ever has.
[9]
Alfred Soto: As much as I admire Pusha, his rapping sometimes amounts to a confident, stentorian DO YOU SEE. Discussing his favorite subject — the wages of crack — he’s confident and stentorian without leaning so hard on the final syllables, a pro reveling in form and function.
[7]
Edward Okulicz: The titular line is a killer, and delivered like it. The track itself sounds like it could have been made in any year since about 2001, except maybe the last five years. I’m not sure if that’s a great thing but it does hit a certain nostalgia. I remember almost nothing about the bits of “Diet Coke” that didn’t immediately stand out, so when it’s done I feel like a blast of wind has just ripped through me.
[7]
Thomas Inskeep: When it comes to Pusha T’s rapping, I mean, nobody does it better. And I’m not sure anybody produces Pusha as well as Kanye these days, either. “Diet Coke” is simple, blinding confirmation of their gifts.
[10]
Ian Mathers: I love a sub-30 album probably more than the next person, but Daytona was one of the few recently where I consistently found myself going “wait, it’s over?” I couldn’t tell if he’d left me wanting more or just plain unsatisfied. On the basis of “Diet Coke” I can tell two things: one, if anyone was still wondering if Pusha T has any interest in doing anything but continuing to refine and focus his whole deal even more intensely as time passes, well, keep waiting; two, I still can’t quite tell how much I’m on board. Somewhat?
[7]
Micha Cavaseno: With 20+ years under his belt in the rap game, Pusha T is now being considered one of the greatest lyricists and artists of his genre. This is a problem, because he has never been one of those things, and he has no ability to demonstrate that, nor has he ever done so. The Clipse were, at their best, Nice & Smooth for people who missed when gangster rappers didn’t have to make 2-4 ballads to fulfill label obligations. They just also got produced by one of the greatest production teams in modern pop music (let alone rap) for two albums and could make great punchline-filled mixtapes for those who used to rot out their brain’s metaphorical teeth by listening to the likes of Jadakiss, Beanie Siegel and Fabolous do the same with 30-70% less cocaine references. Transitioning away from that, however, Pusha has been going on solo for a decade plus, and people? I can’t tell you in all honesty he’s a better artist than Fabolous. I couldn’t tell you he’s better than Papoose. Pusha T might honestly be on the same level as… Posta Boy. Hell, I can’t think of a song he’s made post “Numbers On The Board” that’s anywhere near as fun as “Jurassic Harlem”. Am I simply getting blinded by nostalgia and regressing to my pre-teen years? Possibly. But Pusha is most definitely regressing into making the music from too many generic 2000s DJ Clue tapes, and he should be similarly left in the dust for that.
[0]
Nortey Dowuona: I get it, folks. The same soft focus drums; those clinking, chilling piano keys; that declarative statement that doesn’t stand up to a hard stare. And, of course, Pusha sounding cruel, contemptuous and smooth as ethanol. But what’s the point? Why are we going down this road again, if there are a dozen other roads going the same place? Is it cuz once we went down it and found a hilarious mockery of a man? We’re winding up there anyway. Let’s just go down a different road.
[6]