Pusha T (Basically) Has No Idea Who Produced “King Push” Posted by Nathan S. on 10/09/13 | Filed under Podcasts, Pusha T, Peter Rosenberg, Production

Back when I was just your average fan, before I became the all powerful, omniscient, king of the rap interwebs Illuminati I am today, I thought albums were made in a very systematic, organized way. Producer A submits a bunch of beats to Manager A, Manager A plays the best stuff for Rapper A, Rapper A picks the ones he wants (if any), contracts between Producer A and Rapper A are signed, and boom, it's on the album. Repeat process with Producer B, Producer C, etc. The producer and artist may connect directly, there may be an extra A&R or two involved, but I thought that was pretty much it.

Sweet baby jesus was I wrong. While things do sometimes work that systematically, more often than not even high profile albums are put together through barely controlled chaos. Rapper A is hanging out with Rapper B, Rapper B is absent mindedly playing beats on his computer. Rapper A overhears a bet he likes, Rapper B can't really remember where he got it from. Rapper A records over it anyway, want to put it on the album, and a mad scramble insues to try to track down the producer. (Basically what happened with Wale.)

Case in point, here's Peter Rosenberg and Pusha T talking about who produced "King Push" on the new Juan Epstein podcast:

Rosenberg: What was the deal with the Joaquin Phoenix thing?
Pusha T: Cause Joaquin Phoenix gave Ye the beat, so I was always under the impression that Joaquin Phoenix did the beat.
Rosenberg: And you just liked it? It happened to be hot?
Cupha Sounds: What's this? I missed this.
Rosenberg: There's a story going around. First it was Pusha T has a Joaquin Phoenix beat. The story is now it was not Joaquin Phoenix who did the beat but...
Pusha T: ...Sebastin Ullrich.
Rosenberg: Lars Ullrich from Metallica's son. So that's who it turned out to be.
Cipha Sounds: It's on the album?
Pusha T: Yeah, it's the first song.
Rosenberg: Have you met this kid?
Pusha T: No, I mean, we just talked over Twitter.

That shit is so mindblowing to me. We're talking about the first song on one of the biggest albums of the year, and Pusha originally had no idea who produced the song. Then once he found out, the extent of his communication with that person was a Twitter exchange. (The kid can't even get a phone call?) And that level of organization and rapper-producer communication is probably more then rule than the exception.

God I love behind the scenes stories like this, they reveal just how insane the music industry really is. Would this happen in any other industry? Did Steve Jobs get two weeks away from releasing the new iPhone before he said, "Fuck, we should probably figure out who designed this before it hits shelves." If you like even a modicum of stability and predictability, this is not the business to be in.

The lesson? If you want a beat on a Pusha T album all you have to be is the son of a legendary drummer who knows Joaquin Phoenix who gives that beat for Kanye and you're golden. The other lesson? Producers are often treated as the most disposable part of making an album, even though in reality they're absolutely essential. Man, I feel for you producers.

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See Also:  Wale Has No Idea Who Produced This Beat, Here’s Why You Should Care
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