It's Almost Dry

It's Almost Dry is the fourth studio album by American rapper Pusha T. It was released on April 22, 2022, by GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings; the album is Pusha T's final album with Def Jam Recordings, as well as his final release with GOOD Music before stepping down from his post as president and leaving the label in December 2022.[1] The album features guest appearances from Kanye West, Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams, Kid Cudi, Lil Uzi Vert, Don Toliver, Nigo, Labrinth, and Malice. West and Williams also served as executive producers with Williams producing six tracks, West producing five and the pair producing one track together ("Rock n Roll"). The album also includes production from Labrinth, Ojivolta, FnZ, BoogzDaBeast, Luca Starz, and ThaMyind.

It's Almost Dry
Studio album by
Pusha T
ReleasedApril 22, 2022
Recorded2020-22
Length35:47
Label
Producer
Pusha T chronology
Daytona
(2018)		 It's Almost Dry
(2022)
Singles from It's Almost Dry
  1. "Diet Coke"
    Released: February 8, 2022
  2. "Hear Me Clearly"
    Released: March 3, 2022
  3. "Neck & Wrist"
    Released: April 6, 2022
  4. "Scrape It Off"
    Released: May 10, 2022

It's Almost Dry received widespread critical acclaim from music critics, with some comparing it to Pusha T's previous album, Daytona. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 55,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.

Background

On April 19, 2022, Pusha was interviewed by Rolling Stone, in which he explained the meaning of the album title, saying,

I'm always creating a masterpiece and in the creation of that in terms of a painting, you end up telling people while they waiting on it, 'It's almost dry,' because they're always asking, 'When will it be done?' And you have to wait on masterpieces. Also in drug culture, a lot of times you'll have people waiting on the product and it's not dry yet. You can come get it when it's dry.[2]

Release and promotion

On April 19, 2022, Pusha officially shared the album's cover art and revealed its tracklist.[3][4] On April 22, 2022, the same day the album was released, Pusha appeared as a musical guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and held an album listening party in New York City, titled Cokechella.[5][6] On January 24, 2022, he shared an image of American singer Lana Del Rey with her face seemingly obscured by a pile of cocaine.[7] He later revealed that he posted the image with the belief that he and the singer talk about similar subjects in their music. According to Pusha, Del Rey's label contacted him shortly after, to request him getting on a remix.[8] The day before the image was posted, Pusha had previewed new music in Paris, with several snippets showing up on various celebrities Instagram stories.[7] On January 28, 2022, Pusha shared a post on Instagram of a contract indicating him signing off on Def Jam Recordings, writing that "some people call you their brother, other people show you you're brothers". In the post, he also expressed his gratitude to fellow American rapper and one of the producers involved in the album, Kanye West, with saying "Thanx Yezos", a play on the name of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, a moniker also used to reference West in the lyrics of certain songs on the album. Pusha's manager, Steven Victor, confirmed that It's Almost Dry was set to be his last album under the Def Jam label and that he now owns his masters because of West.[9] On April 18, 2022, Pusha announced that a public listening party would be held in New York that same week.[5] Later that day, he officially announced the album's release date while sharing a snippet from the then-unreleased song "I Pray for You."[10] The album ended up leaking on the same day, four days before its official release.

Singles

The album's lead single, "Diet Coke", was released on February 8, 2022.[11] The next single, "Hear Me Clearly", a collaboration with Japanese fashion designer and record producer Nigo, was released on March 4, 2022. The third single, "Neck & Wrist," which features American rapper Jay-Z and American singer-songwriter and record producer Pharrell Williams, was released on April 6, 2022.[12][13] The fourth single, "Scrape It Off," which features American rapper Lil Uzi Vert and American rapper and singer Don Toliver, was sent to urban contemporary radio on May 10, 2022.[14]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic83/100[15]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[16]
Clash8/10[17]
HipHopDX3.8/5[18]
NME[19]
Pitchfork7.8/10[20]
Rolling Stone[21]

It's Almost Dry received widespread critical acclaim. According to Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 83 based on 15 reviews. Marcuss Shorter of Consequence wrote that the album "drips confidence from knowing Pusha is one of a few artists who can do what he does at a very high level" and called it "the perfect complement to Daytona, creating Pusha's very own gangster saga on wax".[22]

AllMusic wrote that "with fourth solo album It's Almost Dry, Pusha T does what he does best -- deliver larger than life storytelling rhymes about drug dealing and street struggles -- only bigger, better, and more polished to perfection than before" and "upgrading significantly from 2018's brief and scattered-feeling Daytona, It's Almost Dry finds Pusha T in the role of the cool, collected, bulletproof rapper".[16]

Commercial performance

It's Almost Dry debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 55,000 album-equivalent units (including 9,000 copies in pure album sales) in its first week.[23] This became Pusha's first number-one album.[23] The album also accumulated a total of 59.11 million on-demand streams of the album's songs.[23]

Track listing
It's Almost Dry track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Brambleton"
P. Williams2:50
2."Let the Smokers Shine the Coupes"
2:30
3."Dreamin of the Past" (featuring Kanye West)
West2:53
4."Neck & Wrist" (featuring Jay-Z and Pharrell Williams)
P. Williams3:29
5."Just So You Remember"
  • FnZ
  • West
  • BoogzDaBeast
2:58
6."Diet Coke"
3:00
7."Rock n Roll" (featuring Kanye West and Kid Cudi)
  • West
  • P. Williams
  • Ojivolta
3:53
8."Call My Bluff"
  • T. Thornton
  • P. Williams
P. Williams2:48
9."Scrape It Off" (featuring Lil Uzi Vert and Don Toliver)
P. Williams2:32
10."Hear Me Clearly" (with Nigo)
  • West
  • BoogzDaBeast
  • Starz
  • ThaMyind
2:21
11."Open Air"
  • T. Thornton
  • P. Williams
P. Williams2:12
12."I Pray for You" (featuring Labrinth and Malice)
4:21
Total length:35:47

Notes

  • Two alternate configurations of the track listing were released three days after the original: on the first configuration, It's Almost Dry: Ye vs. Pharrell, West's six produced tracks were moved to the start and Williams' six produced songs moved to the end of the track listing.[24] The inverse occurred on the second configuration, titled It’s Almost Dry: Pharrell vs. Ye.[25]

Sample credits

Personnel

Musicians

  • Mike Larson – programming (2, 4, 8–9)
  • Ojivolta – programming (2)
  • Shelly Berg – programming (2)
  • Budapest Scoring Choir – choir (2)
  • Fat Joe – additional vocals (6)
  • 88-Keys – programming (6)
  • Christina Nicholas – additional vocals (8)
  • Kanye West – programming (10)
  • BoogzDaBeast – programming (10)
  • Luca Starz – programming (10)
  • ThaMyind - programming (10)

Technical

  • Manny Marroquin – mixing (1-5, 8–11)
  • Emerson Mancini – mastering (1-5, 7–12)
  • Mike Dean – mixing (6-7, 12), mastering (6)
  • Anthony Vilchis – mix assistance (1-5, 8–11)
  • Trey Station – mix assistance (1-5, 8–11)
  • Zach Pereyra – mix assistance (1-5, 8–11)
  • Sean Solymar – mix assistance (6-7, 12)
  • Tommy Rush – mix assistance (7, 12)
  • Fabian Marasciullo – immersive mixing (10)
  • Mike Larson – recording (1-2, 4–5, 7–12)
  • Andrew Coleman – recording (3)
  • Nathaniel Alford – recording (3, 5)
  • Gimel "Young Guru" Keaton – recording (4)
  • Robert Ulsh – recording (3, 6–7, 9, 12)
  • Andrés Osorio – recording (7)
  • William J. Sullivan – recording (7)
  • Benjamin Thomas – recording (9)
  • Derek Anderson – recording (9)
  • Nick Valentine – recording (10)
  • Morgan David – recording assistance (1-2, 4, 9–10, 12)
  • Noah Hashimoto – recording assistance (3)
  • Ben Sedano – recording assistance (9)
  • Josh Haddad – recording assistance (9)
  • Mikalai Skrobat – recording assistance (9)
  • Maximilian "Vandal" Deak – recording assistance (10)
  • Bálint Sapszon – vocal production (2)
  • Dénes Rédly – vocal engineer (2)

Design

Charts

References
  1. "UPDATE: Pusha T's Manager Steven Victor Says He's Still with Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music". HNHH. 28 January 2022.
  2. Blistein, Jon; Newman, Jason (April 19, 2022). "Pusha T Plots New Album, 'It's Almost Dry,' Produced by Ye, Pharrell". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 22, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  3. Cowen, Trace William (April 19, 2022). "Pusha-T Reveals Tracklist, Features, and Cover Art for New Album 'It's Almost Dry'". Complex. Archived from the original on April 24, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  4. Helfand, Raphael (April 19, 2022). "Pusha T shares It's Almost Dry cover art and tracklist". The Fader. Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2022.
  5. Darville, Jordan (April 18, 2022). "Cokechella Listening Party". The Fader. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  6. Bustard, Andy (April 22, 2022). "Pusha T & The Roots Join Forces For 'Dreamin Of The Past' Performance On 'The Tonight Show'". HipHopDX. Archived from the original on April 22, 2022. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
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