King Push -- Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude
| Pusha T
King Push -- Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude
King Push Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude is the second studio album by American rapper Pusha T. It was released on December 18, 2015, by GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings. The album was supported by three singles: "Untouchable", "M.F.T.R." featuring The-Dream and "Crutches, Crosses, Caskets". The album features guest appearances from The-Dream, Kanye West, ASAP Rocky, Ab-Liva, Beanie Sigel, Kehlani and Jill Scott, with production handled by a variety of high-profile record producers, including Kanye West, J. Cole, Timbaland, Q-Tip, Hudson Mohawke and Puff Daddy, among others. - Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
The beats sound like money, and the raps are whip smart and cleanly tailored.
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Billboard
He’s more focused on cohesion, painting pictures of pain.
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NME
The Virginia powerhouse's latest sneaks in as one of the year's strongest hip-hop records.
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Hot New Hip Hop
It's scary to think how good the actual "King Push" will be if this is just the prelude.
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Renowned for Sound
The production is gritty, the bass is loud and the beats incredibly catchy.
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Dead End Hip Hop
Pusha sounds sharper than ever, and his experience shows. Even with a mid-December release, Pusha T, excuse me, King Push, put together one of the strongest hip-hop albums of 2015.
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The Verge
The most interesting part of Darkest Before Dawn is its beats. They’re more jagged and strange than anything on Pusha’s fine 2013 LP My Name Is My Name, a cold and physical album in its own right.
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The Guardian
With Darkest Before Dawn, Pusha T has created his own hip-hop Trojan horse.
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DJ Booth
it's a more than worthy addition to the canon of Terrence Thornton, and more than enough to have me salivating over a 2016 that witnesses the arrival of King Push. All hail the king.
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Rolling Stone
Though hip-hop gets more melodic and vocally expressive every year, Pusha keeps his cadences steely and his bars hitting like haymakers, maintaining that ice-cold Nineties feel even when he’s taking on modern troubles.
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Consequence of Sound
Pusha has never been a one-dimensional rapper, but many of his songs without coke at the center lack his signature panache. This time around, Pusha touches on issues adjacent to his particular line of expertise.
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SPIN
He’s untouchable, which suits a guy whose feelings are encased behind hard rock. And Momma, he’s not sorry.
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A.V. Club Music
If Darkest Before Dawn really is a prelude to the record King Push to come, you have to wonder where Pusha T will choose to take his music next. Making it deeper, angrier, darker, and more foreboding doesn’t seem possible.
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Wickedd Childd
Not one song on this album lacks in great production. Pusha T has a really great ear for production and it shows on this album.
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The Boombox
When Pusha calls himself "King Push," he means it.
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HipHopDX
The Prelude has once again positioned Pusha as an emcee with the ability to put forth a legendary piece of work. Here now, the clock ticks until King Push.
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The National
Leave it to Pusha T to release one of last year’s best hip-hop albums in December – but the American rapper has always been subversive. His second solo album, King Push – Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude, is his best yet and marks a further evolution in his career.
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The West Review
The Prelude is an impressive album, and is going to find its way into my Albums of 2015 list. Classic Clipse-stemming delivery, unforgiving and often minimalist production, as well as some notable album structure all point to another solid release from the GOOD Music honcho.
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The Daily
Take this album for what it is: a prelude. While there are great tracks that will definitely snatch your attention and lyrics that will make you think, the album is only an early and limited look at the album we should all be extremely excited for.
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The Ratings Game
Very solid album. I Didn’t realize it’ll be this deep. It is not versatile, it is consistently dark and soulful. The whole album is worth a listen.
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Hit The Floor
Just like MNIMN, Push gives the listener a consistent performance leaving little room for error. Overall, it’s another quality album and an improvement from MNIMN. This album is a prelude to King Push, so if this serves as a starter then we’re excited about the main course.
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Las Vegas Weekly
The first half of the record feels worthy of King Push; the second half seems more like The Prelude.
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Sputnik Music
A prelude is a taste of things to come, and with 'Darkest Before Dawn', Pusha T has finally given a reason for his fans, for his peers and for the industry to consider him as 'King'.
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Paste Magazine
Darkest Before Dawn the fully realized product, Pusha T not as he was or as he could be, but as he is.
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DIY Mag
Each track feels like a different corner of Pusha T’s mind, all coming together to form a complete brain, glimmering with glitz and glamour on the surface and exploring darkness and deep thought below.
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The Early Registration
The result is Pusha T coming across as the most credible, menacing rapper in the world right now, and with the constant re-inventive, self-challenging nature of Push and his seemingly familiar story, maybe it’s time we admit that Pusha T is the most technically sound MC breathing.
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Sound Opinions
This record packs a punch with 10 intense tracks marked by Pusha's authoritative voice. Try it.
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Pop'stache
a warmth that pervades the works of golden age Brooklyn DJs and forms a beautiful and jarring synthesis with their emcees’ gritty verses.
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Soul in Stereo
Darkest Before Dawn’s short running time (just over a half-hour) might seem like a slight, but that’s by design. This is merely an appetizer. Just imagine what the full course will be like.
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Empty Lighthouse
Whether you're a fan of the drug riddles, awesome production, realness or deep lyrics addressing social issues you will take something away with you after listening to this album.
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The Line of Best Fit
The Prelude is very much a mixtape style release, but it succeeds thanks to Pusha T’s menacing charisma and a laundry list of producers that is too big to fail.
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All Music
comes with the quality control that would put it in the top tiers of both the mixtape and street release formats.
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NOW Magazine
their best productions of late. Pusha might be considered an innovator of "coke rap," but his hip-hop references and occasional political edge expand his subject matter.
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Northern Transmissions
Despite a few dips, Darkest Before Dawn is a concise and pounding presentation from the veteran rapper. If this is what he’s prepped for the prelude, one can only wonder what treasures King Push will display during the coronation.
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Parle Mag
There are points where Pusha seems to pine for the signature marching bass lines, yet pushes through on this prelude without it, laying the anticipatory groundwork for the actual King Push recording that is to come.
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Andrale Marie
utilizes the platform of music to raise awareness about police brutality, the inspiration of African-American legacies to create certain landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, the disservice of police officers who are suppose to serve and protect and more.
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Atwood Magazine
If Pusha T can remain this lyrically poignant, and keep his excellent tastes in guest artists and producers intact, then he should be poised to follow his own advice on the upcoming King of Push: “Christopher Wallace, stay big, keep climbin’.”
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Amino Apps
This was a dope album, and I’m very glad I listened to this.
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Salute Mag
Darkest Before Dawn is a flawless back drop for the upcoming King Push; it’s gritty and dark and solidifies Pusha T’s position as a lyrical monster while creating a ferocious appetite for more.
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Focus Hip Hop
That shit was dope af. This is easily one of the best albums I’ve heard all year. There’s not really a lot of room for error since it’s only about half an hour long, but that’s not a bad thing.
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The Butter Lamb
Pusha uses this showcase to prove, yet again, that he’s a strong solo artist. Lyrically, he effortlessly manages to combine drug and crime references, with social commentary, and fitting pop culture references.
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The Quietus
Pusha T has delivered his long-promised "hip hop album of the year".
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The Needle Drop
Pusha T gets back in touch with his roots, and teases toward his next project with this mini-album that sets the bar pretty high.
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Spectrum Pulse
it sets the expectations sky-high. For me, I'm thinking a light 8/10 and for sure a recommendation, especially considering it's a pretty quick listen with a lot of replay value to decode all of his lines. So yeah, Pusha T, I'm onboard.
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Anhedonic Headphones
his lyrics are, overall, as cutting and subtly clever as always, and his diction and delivery are precise and urgent. It’s just here that his urgency gets weighed down and partially lost within some strange and cluttered
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Michigan Daily
is delivered with a certain air of charity about it. It’s just something to hold us over until he delivers what will inevitably be another fantastic record: King Push.
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KSDB FM
Multiple times I have found myself listening to it two or even three times in a row. I’m very much looking forward to hearing this album’s successor, King Push, which drops in April.
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The 405
"Chess moves on your checkerboard. King him." EUGHCK!
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Medium
Push is genuinely trying to expand his artistic horizons and thus, his identity, while still retaining the fearsome degree of credibility that he’s earned from his street releases.
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Electric Sloth
this is an album that makes a grand statement in a grand way.
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Kicks to the Pitch
If you haven’t been buying what Pusha T has been selling for quite some time now, DBD is a great place to start. The rhymes and production are on point, and if this is just a preview of what’s to come, longtime fans should be thoroughly excited.
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Clash Music
A remarkable return to form by one of rap’s finest wordsmiths, it’s Pusha’s most focused and cohesive solo effort to date, and one of hip-hop’s strongest long-players of 2015. Here’s hoping he can maintain this momentum.
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Barzino's Blog
‘Darkest Before The Dawn-The Prelude’ is only a warm-up for next year’s long-overdue, ‘King Push’ album, and if DBD is anything to go on, his fans have a lot to look forward to!
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Hood Politics
Pusha T continues to stick to his style while also being creative with dope melody beats and content including drug references, living with money and fame and social tension.
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Skiddle
This is all about Pusha, someone who continues to prove he deserves the King title once again. That complete album can't come quick enough.
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Recommended Listen
Placating Pusha T’s seedy lyrical motifs are a juggernaut assembly in producers and soft guests spots (The-Dream, Jill Scott, Kehlani) who billow a rich, red crimson cloud around the edges of these 10 sharp diamonds.
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Yahoo!
Darkest Before Dawn is concise and consistent on both tonal and thematic levels.
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Brandage Co.
Overall 1-10 id give the album a solid 7 and a half and since this is a Prelude to King Push dropping in 2016, Pusha does enough to make you appreciate this album, but also anticipate more for King Push.
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Outlet
It is a condensed feature that shows Pusha T doing what he does best, making dark lyrical music about his surroundings and, of course, cocaine. It successfully sets the bar high for his album proper that is scheduled for release later this year.
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The Know
Not even a Roc-A-Fella legend can save the lack of cohesion here. The saying goes that it’s darkest before dawn, and it holds here. If we’re lucky, we’ll get a more interesting project from Pusha-T in the early hours of next year.
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Saint Audio
Emotion comes through in such an sudden and authentic way where it is hard not to be captivated, and before you know it the song is over.
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Hippo Press
This album finds him descending deeper into the murky darkness and posting up some really good stuff all while his public persona demands Album of the Year awards.
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KJHK
Pusha T emanates a confident classiness and seasoned sound in the contemporary time capsule that is King Push — Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude
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97 Words
Menacing. Pusha T knows how to select beats that agree with his unique voice, signature “yuuuh”, and dark, snowy, lyrical content.
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Free City Sounds
This, in combination with Pusha T’s ever-calculated flow, makes for good background music; it bangs just enough to remind you that something’s happening.
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The Irish Times
This sees the rapper move on apace from relying on streetwise smarts and gnarly,
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Edmonton Journal
Hip-hop star's second album features one of the most heartbreaking tunes of 2015 ... and 2016.
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Stereogum
he strips away all ideas of melody and warmth and friendliness. Instead, he’s made something as stark and unrelenting, in its own way, as Kanye West’s Yeezus.
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