Pusha T‘s It’s Almost Dry has ignited a passionate debate on social media since its eagerly awaited arrival last week — no, not over Pyrex P’s coke-fueled raps, but over who has the best beats on the album.
Kanye West and Pharrell — Pusha’s closest and arguably most potent collaborators — evenly share production credits on the 12-track project, with Ye cooking up standouts such as “Diet Coke,” “Hear Me Clearly” and “Dreamin’ of the Past,” and Skateboard P serving up speaker-rattlers like “Neck & Wrist,” “Call My Bluff” and “Brambleton.”
Review - Pusha T 'It's Almost Dry' Delivers Coke Rap Supremacy But Doesn't Elevate Past That
Those still struggling to pick a winner have a helping hand as Pusha T has reimagined his fourth solo album as a beat battle between Kanye and Pharrell. During a Q&A with his Twitter followers on Monday (April 25), the Virginia Beach native tweeted links to two alternate versions of It’s Almost Dry on Spotify.
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It’s Almost Dry: Pharrell vs. Ye reshuffles the tracklist so all six Pharrell-produced songs make up the first half of the album, followed by Kanye’s half-dozen efforts. It’s Almost Dry: Ye vs. Pharrell reverses the order so Mr. West’s sample-laced production kickstarts the album.
The alternate versions — which might be the closest rap fans get to seeing either Kanye or Pharrell step into the Verzuz arena — are also available on Apple Music, TIDAL, SoundCloud and Amazon Music.
Ever graceful in competition, Pharrell saluted Kanye West in a video posted on Instagram on Monday (April 25) responding to the “overwhelming reaction” to It’s Almost Dry, which has been praised by fans and peers alike including Diddy, Swizz Beatz and Royce Da 5’9.
“Man, I just want to say thank you,” he said. “It’s Almost Dry… it’s crazy the way it turned out, man. Ye crushed it. Just the response, the fans reacting to it. You know, when I get with Pusha, he don’t even wanna talk unless we conjuring the demon sound. That’s it. That’s all he wants.
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“So it was fun to go back there and just make things that feel great to us — with zero compromise, zero concession. And to see the overwhelming reaction and the response. It’s just been so heartwarming. I’m grateful.”
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last week, Pusha T broke down the difference between Kanye West and Pharrell’s production styles, admitting working with the latter is “way tougher.”
“Ye is just a Pusha T rap fanatic,” he explained. “He just likes all of my raps and he just wants me to rap all day long, and then he just wants to take them from me and edit them and do what he wants to do with it.
“Pharrell is more of a composer. He wants to make sure that every verse, every hook, every cadence, every flow — he likes to call them ‘sticky moments.’ He wants to make sure that everything is sticky and stays with you the whole time throughout the whole song.”
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He joked, “It’s way more tedious with Pharrell. It’s way tougher with him.”
