Haiku Reviews: Pusha T's "Wrath of Caine"
Slava P found out what happened to that Boy George cassette.
What happened to Terrence Thornton? The braided half of the former “under-appreciated” (his words) pairing The Clipse has abandoned his daily rituals of working the Virginia corners and slinging cocaine in favor of flights to Hawaii with Kanye and building on his #menswear collection. But you wouldn’t know it by listening to his raps. Wrath of Caine is Pusha T’s attempt at getting our attention before he releases his long-time-coming debut, My Name Is My Name, but if his first solo album will be anything like what's presented on Caine, I already miss No Malice.
Once you look past the glossy veneer of sing-along guest features, "once upon a time" coke tales and grating Jamaican accents, what you're left with is a hollow attempt at reworking a tired drug dealer cliche. At best, Pusha T has become a Young Jeezy clone who is allowed to make songs with members of MMG, down to his trademark "talent" of ending three separate bars with the same word and trying to play it off as clever.
The best parts of Wrath Of Caine don't actually involve Pusha at all. After 36 minutes, the biggest takeaways for me were Kevin Gates and his Future impression; French Montana and his straight ignorance; Rozay talking about soft loafers and organic herbs, and Ab-Liva coming out of nowhere to steal the show. Even "Revolution" was only listenable because it made you nostalgic about better days when Pusha worked hand-in-hand with The Neptunes instead of being an auditory hypebeast. Thank God (or, in his eyes, thank Pusha) that Wale was put on a track so it wasn't a complete bukkake (get it? Because everyone came hard).
Intro Jamaica accents, and online porn confessions oh, and coke stories
Millions feat. Rick Ross Haunting pianos and pure, raw introspection. Plus, Ross fabricates
Doesn't Matter feat. French Montana If your IRA isn't maxed the fuck out, French doesn't care for you.
Blocka One up on T James: put diamonds on everything. Including your gun.
Revolution Throwback to talent while describing your fall from grace to cool patterns
Road Runner feat. Troy Ave Trafficking music to incriminate you for your next traffic stop.
Only You Can Tell It feat. Wale The solitary example of how to own a song on your tape
Trust You feat. Kevin Gates Flaunt your buzz knowledge of new artists. Also flaunt designers you know
Take My Life feat. Andrea Martin Great guitar riffs with enjoyable lyrics that name drop Paris shops
Re-Up Gang Motivation feat. Ab-Liva Back from the dead to impress the old Clipse fans and introduce new ones
I Am Forgiven Asking repentance for actions you have taken to be Ye's cronie
Download: ZIP: Pusha T - "Wrath of Caine (Left-Click)