NYS Music 2023

Tag: Pusha T

  • Genius IQ/BBQ Returns & Brings Culture Together at Knockdown Center in Queens

    In honor of hip hop’s 50th anniversary and lasting culture, Genius brought a return to their “IQ/BBQ” summer showcase. In the first edition of the annual event since Covid, hosts Miabelle and Jacques Morel took on the role of emcee, with DJ Saige, DJ Stacks, RNB House Party and DJ S’Wit serenading the crowd with memorable hip hop tracks.

    Held at Queens’ Knockdown Center, the day-long festivities provided a fitting end-of-summer experience for guests to enjoy. While in the midst of a year-long celebration of hip hop, IQ/BBQ expertly combined the best of hip hop and urban culture to provide all-around good time.

    Genis IQ/BBQ Main Stage
    Guests gather at center stage at IQ/BBQ. Photo by Ki Steiger-Dahl

    In light, Knockdown Center’s large terrain set the stage for a diverse live music experience, allowing for the ambience to differ with each change of location. Consequently for performers, it left the crowd scattered. As guests warmed up to performances by opening acts Rich Greedy and Wynne, their attention split between a number of enjoyable experiences at Genius IQ/BBQ.

    IQ/BBQ Brought the Culture

    After all, aside from a rich lineup of acts, IQ/BBQ offered experiences like the So Fresh, So Clean Shop. Presented By Paco Rabanne 1 Million, attendees had the chance to snag free barber shape-ups by Groomed Guys, along with sneaker cleanings by Fresh Kicks NYC. 

    Photos by Kia Steiger-Dahl

    In like manner, the outdoor Rap Cafeteria, presented by Showtime’s The Chi, created a true backyard barbecue vibe for Genius. This fun space featured picnic tables with designs that paid homage to iconic cities and eras from hip-hop’s first 50 years. Along with games, food from some New York City’s best food trucks and of course, great music.

    Genius IQ/BBQ Rap Cafeteria
    IQ/ BBQ’s Rap Cafeteria offered delicious eats from some of New York City’s best vendors

    Meanwhile, VIPs enjoyed sips of PATRÓN EL ALTO in the VIP Genius Lounge, which was adorned with famous song lyrics featuring PATRÓN.

    Photos by Kia Steiger-Dahl

    Performances

    As the acts warmed up so did the crowd. However, New York City’s “too cool for school” attitude reared its head, as less experienced and less-known performers struggled to captivate the crowd. Yet as the evening waned and guests had eaten and drank their fill, the center stage began to heat up. Performances from Luh Tyler and Lola Brooke got the crowd going. While Armani White showcased true stage presence and talent in getting a stubborn crowd to come alive.

    Photos by Spicy Rico

    As a result, a now-perked up and fully gathered crowd waited patiently for the headliners, Clipse, to make their appearance. After a near hour-long wait Pusha T dawned the stage, feverishly spitting out lyrics from his Grammy-nominated release, It’s Almost Dry.

    Pusha T came out to a very engaged crowd. Photo by Kia Steiger-Dahl,

    After performing records performing a slew of solo tracks, he brought out his brother Malice as they performed one of their classic album cuts, “Popular Demand” to a now-fully engaged crowd. The energy levels remained high throughout their set as they ran through a number of hit records including “Mr. Me Too,” and “What Happened to That Boy,” before ultimately performing a run of deep album cuts and closing out with one of hip hop’s classic records, “Grindin’.”

    Pusha T and No Malice are in the midst of a reunion 14 years in the making. Photo by Kia Steiger-Dahl.

    As Pusha T and Malice performed their last record, the duo thanked the crowd for repeatedly showing the Virginia natives love. Just as suddenly as the electrifying performance began, it was over, and guests dispersed knowing that hip hop delivered them another memorable day.

  • Clipse Duo Pusha T and No Malice to Headline Genius’ IQ/BBQ

    After teasing their return at Pharell’s Louis Vuitton Fashion Show, legendary rap brothers Pusha T and No Malice — known as Clipse — will continue their resurgence with a headlining performance at Genius’ IQ/BBQ. Presented in partnership with Infiniti, Paco Rabanne, Patron El Alto, and Paramount+ with Showtime’s The Chi, the all-day event takes place on August 19 at Knockdown Center in Queens, N.Y., and will feature live performances from some of the hottest names in hip-hop, including the platinum-selling duo.

    Clipse duo Pusha T and No Malice will be performing at Genius' IQ/BBQ

    In addition to the show, IQ/BBQ will feature experiences like the So Fresh, So Clean Shop from Paco Rabanne 1M, an art installation from Infinity featuring the new QX60, a VIP “Genius Lounge” presented by Patrón El Alto, and a Rap Cafeteria filled with lyric-inspired dishes from local NYC food vendors – presented by Showtime Original Series, The Chi.

    Clipse Making a Comeback

    With this performance, The Clipse continue their teased reunion. After previewing their first joint-record in 14 years the Virginia-bred brothers have garnered fans attention with the teased record. Their last collab was the outro to Pusha T’s most recent album It’s Almost Dry, titled “I Pray for You.”

    Moreover, since their days as The Clipse, the duo have been part of some of hip hop’s most iconic records. Notably, records like “Grindin’,” “Mr. Me Too,” and “What Happened to That Boy.” Since their last album — 2009’s Til The Casket Drops — Pusha T has embarked on a successful solo career that has resulted in several Grammy nominations and recognition as one of the best rappers ever. Meanwhile, No Malice left the music industry to become a pastor making sporadic feature appearances since, including an album cut on Ye’s 2019 release Jesus Is King.

    Tickets for the Genius IQ/BBQ are free and are now available at dice.fm, while the event maintains a 21+ age restriction.

  • Jim Jones and Pusha T Officially Have Rap Beef, What Comes Next?

    In a year where hip hop is on a commercial downturn, it’s nice to see an essential part of the culture remains. This latest edition of rap beef kicked-off with Jim Jones challenging Pusha T’s validity among rap’s royalty on various hip hop platforms. However, it wasn’t Jones’ opinion on Pusha T that sparked the brouhaha, but rather his determined effort to make it seem like Pusha had little to no cultural relevance. With Jones saying, “Nobody has dressed like him. Nobody wants to be like Pusha T. I don’t remember nothing.”

    Jim Jones and Pusha T
    Jim Jones vs Pusha T is hip hop’s latest beef

    In turn, Pusha T’s expectedly cunning response created a moment on social media. In sinister tone and fashion, Push gave his reply at the Louis Vuitton fashion show, where record producer — and longtime Pusha T cohort — Pharell Williams debuted his collection as men’s creative director. With this intention, Pusha and his brother, No Malice, who make up Clipse, walked the runway in the show as their new track played. With the fabled duo sharing their first collaboration in 14 years.

    Pusha T Fires Back

    Although the diss-record was previewed inconspicuously, the public pieced together the Jim Jones disses within the track. Addressing Jones’ comments, Push raps, “beware of my name, that there’s delegate/ You know I know where you’re delicate/ Crush you to pieces, I’ll hum a breath of it…I’m watching your fame escape relevance/ We all in a room but here’s the elephant/ You chasing a feature out of your element.”

    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vFSAG90jYZo

    By the same token, Push continuously attacks Jim for his own public financial troubles, while reminding of his own mercurial standing within his circle.

    “And those lab diamonds under inspection/ The question marks block your blessings/ It’s no tombstones in the desert/ I know by now you get the message,” he goes on to say. 

    All in all, it was a masterful move by Push to withhold his reply until the time was right. Despite Jim Jones’ assertion that Pusha T held little relevance musically, here he is walking in a fashion show for one of the world’s preeminent brands to his own record, while A-list stars like Jay-Z and Beyoncé were seen boppin’ to the song in the crowd. Jones gave an instant reply on social media, although his perceived carefree attitude did little to sway fans, Jones needed to reply with bars and couldn’t finesse his way out of this one.

    Bomb First, Jim Jones Replies

    To Jim Jones’ credit, he did reply, albeit with a stellar yet not quite up-to-snuff effort when compared to his adversary. His “Summer Collection, From The Block” video performance saw the Dipset rapper try his hand at Pusha T’s beat. Altogether, Jim held his own with his brand of witty wordplay and street tales, however his flow and presence on the record failed to match Pusha T’s output. That is to say nothing of Jim’s own lyrical expertise as he had his own ammo for Push. Namely, attacking his street cred and claiming that he knew little of the drug dealing he rapped about and for his association with Ye, who helped Pusha launch his solo career on his Good Music label. But nonetheless, it seemed a mistake to rap over a beat that was curated specifically for Pusha and No Malice.

    “These two roach niggas don’t know what to do in no raid/ Kanye gave you whips, but that’s what they do to the slaves/ you tryna act bad, but we ain’t doin’ charades/ I really have bombs on the block just like I threw a grenade.”

    Jim Jones might have felt similar sentiments as he continued to hop on airwaves and diminish Pusha’s efforts. The one they call Capo phoned in to the Joe Budden Podcast and share more colorful sentiments about this battle. Namely, called Pusha T’s diss-track “cute” and claimed that things might get violent if Pusha goes to similar extents as he did in his beef with Drake. With Capo hilariously quipping “whose going to spin the block for him, Pharrell?”

    What Comes Next?

    Hopefully more music. Although with Push leading the vote in public opinion, Jim may need to double-down on his attacks to get ahead of things, but would he want to poke to proverbial bear? As things stand, what else can Jim Jones say as it relates to Pusha T? Despite his best efforts, the “Diet Coke” MC remains in the upper echelon of rappers. Altogether, Push has tallied an impressive resume, with platinum-selling albums as a member of the Clipse and as a solo artist. His last two albums, 2018’s DAYTONA and 2022’s It’s Almost Dry got him Grammy nominations and he is still one of the only artists that can snag a Jay – Z feature.

    All things considered, Jims’s best bet is to throw a few haymakers and hope his witty-ness is able to catch the public’s ears, basically play the social media battle. Pusha T, meanwhile, seems to be more patient and isn’t as keen to respond through the media. After all, he knows he has the advantage lyrically. Moreover, his abrupt releases and ability to find his opponents hidden skeletons seems to leave foes on edge.


  • Jim Jones Makes Loyalties Clear with Pusha T Stance

    Jim Jones continues to make the airwaves with his unfiltered take on Vibe and Billboard’s list of the 50 Greatest Ever Rappers. The list — which was part of a collaborative effort to celebrate Hip Hop’s 50th anniversary — named Jay – Z as the genre’s greatest ever MC. However, it was Pusha T’s ranking that raised ire of the “We Fly High” rapper. Coming in at number 29, Pusha T’s career as a member of the Clipse (alongside his brother Malice) and his solo work on GOOD Music has made him a staple of hip hop lore. Yet, Jim Jones doesn’t see it as such and on an episode of The RapCaviar Podcast, the Dipset member aired out his true feelings.

    “What has he done that puts him in the greatest rappers of all time besides talk about coke that he probably didn’t get himself?” Jones asked. “He’s nice as shit. He could rap his ass off, but what has he done?

    “Nobody has dressed like him. Nobody wants to be like Pusha T. I don’t remember nothing. And let’s not be evil, but we don’t talk about rap where the n-gga that’s popping the bitches wanna fuck and the n-ggas wanna be like.”

    He continued: “I don’t know too many n-ggas in this game that was leaning towards being like Pusha T. Pusha T don’t hold no weight out here. He not pushing no shit out here.”

    Jim Jones Doubles Down on The Breakfast Club

    Jim Jones then rehashed the sentiments during an appearance on The Breakfast Club. Confronted by DJ Envy and Charlemagne Tha God about the controversial stance, the Harlem MC colorfully reiterated himself. For the purpose of his argument, Capo focused solely on radio play and club records.

    “Could you name five Pusha T records?” Jones asked The Breakfast Club staff. “Could you name five Pusha T records? No. Could you rap to five Pusha T records?” After Charlemagne named several standout Pusha T records, Jones dismissed Charlemagne as a Pusha T fan and joked about him listening to the records in his basement.

    While Jim Jones acknowledged Pusha T’s talent as a lyricist, he said he hasn’t made enough of a cultural impact to be considered an all-time rap great.

    “Shoutout to Pusha T, I love your soul,” Jones continued. “You my dawg, you not in my top 50. You might be in Charlamagne’s top 50 and things like that, but you haven’t done that much for me in my life.”

    “I never wanted to be like Pusha, I never had a Pusha moment in my life. Where I’m from, n-ggas wanted to be like you if you was really that dude as a rapper.”

    Jim Jones Makes his Loyalties Clear

    Jim Jones is an accomplished rapper himself and is certainly entitled to his opinion. However, his conviction is not without bias. Along with his controversial opinion on Pusha T, Jones has made the rounds for declaring Drake as hip hop’s greatest ever rapper. During appearances on the RapCaviar Podcast and an interview on Complex, Jones asserted his controversial take.

    “Drake is the only one that gets played anyplace on this Earth, and they’re gonna know it in English. If you’re not putting Drake in the Top 2 of all time, like, what are we gonna do? We gonna keep putting shade on his name? He has broke every single statistic, period. You heard?”

    Drake of course, famously brought out Jim Jones and the entire Diplomats crew during his performance at the Apollo Theater and celebrated the veteran rapper and his cohorts with a heartfelt tribute. “These guys right here, from Harlem, made us dress different, talk different, walk different, rap different. All the way in Canada.”

    Verdict

    Thus, it could be that after that moment Jim Jones’ view of what makes an all-time great rapper was altered and he only saw things through a Drake lens. Or, the one they call Capo could just be aligning with his good buddy who also happens to be the most popular rapper in the world. After all, Pusha T and Drake’ s longstanding beef ended without a reply from the Canadian crooner. Consequently, many declared Pusha T the winner as he was one of the few to land a crack in Drake’s pop-star armor.

    What Jim Jones might have looked over is that Drake himself counts Pusha T amongst his many influences. During an episode of the short-lived MTV show When I Was 17, Drake shared a story from his formative years revealing his fandom of the “Dreaming of the Past” rapper. While scouring eBay in search of Clipse memorabilia, Drake stumbled upon and purchased a microphone that was allegedly autographed and used by Pusha T.

    “I used to pretend I was doing interviews on the red carpet and perform all the Clipse songs in my basement with the mic,” he says. “I’m a full-sized teen at this point, so this is in private. And I performed with it so much that I rubbed the autograph off. I don’t even know if he really signed it, but that was my big thing. At the time it meant the world to me.”

    Furthermore, Pusha T remains one of the very few that can get Jay – Z on a record. For rap fans, that may be influence enough.