Yesterday, VICE launched their first edition of Autobiographies, a series detailing the careers and lives of our favorite artists and creators, in their own words. To set it off on the best foot possible, the first episode was all about Pusha T, legendary rapper, President of G.O.O.D. Music, and the apple of our eye. In the video, King Push covers a very wide breadth of his career, including the inception and rise of Clipse, and his move to becoming a solo artist. To highlight how good Pusha's stories and experiences are, we've rounded up the ten best quotes from the video for you to tattoo onto your flesh (or maybe just take to heart, up to you).At the beginning of the interview, he speaks about his fans, how they started.
"I only rap for my core fans. They love my music, they're die-hard. I'll die laying onto those people. It definitely helps when your fans are built from a grassroots beginning."He goes in to talk about the beginning of his rap career, and who he drew influence from at that time.
"As a creative man I was always copying my favorite artists. I looked up to anybody that was on a Clue tape. Whether it was Fab, Jadakiss, Lox, Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang, I was always trying to be better or realer or whatever I thought that they were, I had to outdo it."He also recalls 2002, where Clipse rose to popularity off of Lord Willin'.
"I began to realize me and my brother were touching success specifically when we were on a promo tour for "Grindin'. Within that promo tour, we'd get offers to do $2000 shows for like every drug dealer in the United States of America to perform this 50 times. We'd put on bullet proof vests because these places were sketchy. I began to see the record grow from a ground level."Funny enough, he brings up exactly who was getting into Clipse at the turn of their second record.
"I remember on the Clipse sophomore album 'Hell Hath No Fury,' we were doing press around the album and the writeups were so good. The blogs were clamoring about the Clipse. We found our niche with the album, we found out who exactly our fans were. We started solely in the streets and then found these college, white, internet monsters. We even had a name, they were the Clipsters. They were the hipsters who were all about the Clipse. And they were all about us, and we embraced them as well."He goes in to detail his brother Malice's resignation from music, learning it after reading his autobiography.
"I was like 'wow, okay.' Of course I didn't think it was real, never thought it was real, we still had more tours to do. We got off the tour and he was quiet, and I was just doing my thing a little bit. We had it all mapped out. The offers were so good, and so many were coming and he was 100% not doing it. I used to be so upset, man. I feel like me and my brother could've done whatever we wanted to the rap game. But then I realized we're not in the same place anymore. He had a family and other things to answer for."After reflecting upon his brother's departure, Pusha reflects on what he's like with people he cares for.
"I know how to be loyal to a fault. I'd say I learned that from the streets."As an example, he brings up the murder of one of the members of his crew, Day-Day.
"He was murdered in Philly this past year. I feel like his death re-sensitized me, if that's a word, to senseless violence. You can rationalize death a lot due to the circumstances. When Day-Day passed away, it wasn't right. It absolutely doesn't make sense, it's totally wrong, and there's no excuse."He then thinks about how he reacts to situations that effect him.
"I do think ultimately things eat at me. Even if I've accepted whatever the issue is, that feeling still sits at the pit of your stomach. That quick, you can just be back in a place where you don't want to be."He also looks at what he's able to express in his position.
"I don't think pain goes away. I'm not even in a position these days to even express my true feelings outside of art. I can't act out. I'm older, I don't want to be that way. I just black out. But you can't be that way, turning it into art is the most beneficial thing I can do."In closing, he speaks about hip-hop as a whole.
"Hip-hop is an art form, people can hear authenticity and sincerity. So I think that works out in my favor."Watch the video below, and download Go90 to see the whole documentary.
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"I only rap for my core fans. They love my music, they're die-hard. I'll die laying onto those people. It definitely helps when your fans are built from a grassroots beginning."He goes in to talk about the beginning of his rap career, and who he drew influence from at that time.
"As a creative man I was always copying my favorite artists. I looked up to anybody that was on a Clue tape. Whether it was Fab, Jadakiss, Lox, Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang, I was always trying to be better or realer or whatever I thought that they were, I had to outdo it."He also recalls 2002, where Clipse rose to popularity off of Lord Willin'.
"I began to realize me and my brother were touching success specifically when we were on a promo tour for "Grindin'. Within that promo tour, we'd get offers to do $2000 shows for like every drug dealer in the United States of America to perform this 50 times. We'd put on bullet proof vests because these places were sketchy. I began to see the record grow from a ground level."Funny enough, he brings up exactly who was getting into Clipse at the turn of their second record.
"I remember on the Clipse sophomore album 'Hell Hath No Fury,' we were doing press around the album and the writeups were so good. The blogs were clamoring about the Clipse. We found our niche with the album, we found out who exactly our fans were. We started solely in the streets and then found these college, white, internet monsters. We even had a name, they were the Clipsters. They were the hipsters who were all about the Clipse. And they were all about us, and we embraced them as well."
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"I was like 'wow, okay.' Of course I didn't think it was real, never thought it was real, we still had more tours to do. We got off the tour and he was quiet, and I was just doing my thing a little bit. We had it all mapped out. The offers were so good, and so many were coming and he was 100% not doing it. I used to be so upset, man. I feel like me and my brother could've done whatever we wanted to the rap game. But then I realized we're not in the same place anymore. He had a family and other things to answer for."After reflecting upon his brother's departure, Pusha reflects on what he's like with people he cares for.
"I know how to be loyal to a fault. I'd say I learned that from the streets."As an example, he brings up the murder of one of the members of his crew, Day-Day.
"He was murdered in Philly this past year. I feel like his death re-sensitized me, if that's a word, to senseless violence. You can rationalize death a lot due to the circumstances. When Day-Day passed away, it wasn't right. It absolutely doesn't make sense, it's totally wrong, and there's no excuse."He then thinks about how he reacts to situations that effect him.
"I do think ultimately things eat at me. Even if I've accepted whatever the issue is, that feeling still sits at the pit of your stomach. That quick, you can just be back in a place where you don't want to be."He also looks at what he's able to express in his position.
"I don't think pain goes away. I'm not even in a position these days to even express my true feelings outside of art. I can't act out. I'm older, I don't want to be that way. I just black out. But you can't be that way, turning it into art is the most beneficial thing I can do."In closing, he speaks about hip-hop as a whole.
"Hip-hop is an art form, people can hear authenticity and sincerity. So I think that works out in my favor."Watch the video below, and download Go90 to see the whole documentary.