Pusha-T Explains Why He Didn't Want Any Beef-Type Energy—Including Drake—On 'It's Almost Dry'

Following the release of his new album It’s Almost Dry, Pusha-T has addressed why he decided not to bring any “beefing” type of energy to the record.

In an interview with Power 106 Los Angeles, the rapper suggested that he was past beefing and even mentioned Drake by name when talking about the energy he wanted to bring to the project. “I think a lot of that comes along with rap,” he said at the 10:30 point of the interview when asked about seeing people speculate on who he might be talking about on any given song.

“I’ma be honest with you… Listen, you know I be centered around drama… Whether it be the Drake stuff or whatever, it’s whatever with me,” he said. “Like, I don’t run from it, I don’t hide from it. Whatever. I specifically didn’t put that energy on this album, because it’s like, the album was going so good and that was such a dated thing to me. That was 2018! And I did what I did, I really did it. I did everything I did, and I really stood on it. … On the album, I was like, ‘I’m not going back in time.’ This ain’t, like… It would sort of make me kinda washed, to me.”

He suggested that it would be “corny” for him to still be sending shots so far removed from any beef, let alone his one with Drizzy. “At the same time, it was like, I actually have the two probably best producers in hip-hop right now. I’m not wasting that on that,” he said. “It was old, it was old to me.” During the interview, he was also asked about the line about J. Cole on “Call My Bluff.”

“Sometimes I wish my fanbase was more like J. Cole’s,” he raps on the track. When asked about that line, he made it clear there was no animosity between him and Cole. “You know, that bar was just… I was actually on the road with Cole, and the bar was speaking to how… The places that I go to, and the places and the venues and the energy you got people that are fans, but I find myself competing with the streets sometimes,” he said. “I’m saying that, like, when I’ve been on the road with him… The energy surrounding those places was always so good and inviting. They’re really like there to praise their guy. When I go out, they love the music they love the music, but they also still trying to flex.”