The 10 Coldest Lines From Pusha T's "Numbers on the Board"
The G.O.O.D. Music MC's new song is pure uncut raw.
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The 10 Coldest Lines From Pusha T's "Numbers on the Board" - Jay-Z temporarily dominated the rap-o-sphere yesterday when he dropped a nasty new track, "Open Letter." But the track had to share the spotlight soon after. Why? Because Pusha T, along with producers Don Cannon and Kanye West, dropped "Numbers on the Board," an ice-grill-inducing drug-rap workout later that day. Read on to check out the 10 coldest lines from the song. —Alex Gale (Photo: Moses Robinson/Getty Images for Heineken)
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"Baller, I put numbers on the board / It's hard to get a handle on this double-edged sword" - "Sometimes the rap game reminds me of the crack game," Nas once rapped. Pusha has often rapped that he's played both sides of the fence — or the sword, in this case. Sharp. (Photo: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for BET)
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"Givenchy fittin' like it's gym clothes / We really gym stars, I'm like D. Rose" - Givenchy popularized the new trend of super-baggy high-end T-shirts, which fit like gym jerseys, that Kanye, Pusha and other stars have glommed onto recently. And check the possible homophonic double entrendre in "gym star" — Pusha could actually be saying Gemstar, the razor brand, often shouted out by street rappers, perfect for cutting both foes and lines of blow. Either way, when he's shooting in the gym, Pusha saying he's like Derrick Rose — the very best. (Photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage)
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"How could you relate when you ain't never been great? / And rely on rap money to keep food up on your plates?" - Pusha T is separating himself from all you struggle rappers here: One, you don't have the supposedly all-too-real history with tax-free loot that he frequently uses as inspiration in his rhymes; but most of all, he just raps better than you. (Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Heineken)
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"Don't let your side b-----s settle in / Might have to headbutt your Evelyn" - Here Pusha is referring to, of course, Evelyn Lozada, the ex-wife of NFLer Chad Johnson, who infamously (allegedly) head-butted her in a marital dispute. We don't think Pusha's actually advocating taking domestic matters into your own hands (or, um, head) this way; he's saying that things can get messy if you don't play your player cards right. Either way, it's not a PC line — but it's ruthlessly sharp. (Photos from left: John Ricard / BET, Maury Phillips/WireImage)
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"Your SL's missing an S, n---a / Your plane's missing a chef / The common thing, see they both got wings / If you fly, do it to death" - Pusha pushes back against mid-level ballers in this vicious quartet of bars. The Mercedes SL is a nice car, but the SLS is better (and more expensive, of course). A jet is great, but it's lacking to P if you don't have your own Mario Batali in there. He brings it all together in the next line: The SLS has gull-wing doors, aka suicides, much like a private jet. Do it to death, indeed. (Photo: Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for VEVO)
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"King Push, kingpin, overlord / Coast Guard come a hundred goin' overboard" - Some wannabe drug kingpins get pulled over in cars; Pusha gets flagged down in boats. And check the double entendre with "overboard": Is the Coast Guard overreacting? Or is its one-hundred-man army going to end up sleeping with the fishes? Or both? Only Pusha knows. (Photo: Alexander Tamargo/WireImage for Heineken)
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"Motherf--kers can't rhyme no more, 'bout crime no more / Mix drug and show money, Biggs Burke on tour" - Push starts this couplet with a sample from Jay-Z's 1997 street banger "A Million and One Questions," which ties directly into the next line, which name-drops Karrem "Biggs" Burke, the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder who was sentenced for five years in 2012 for his role in a massive marijuana ring. (Photos from left: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images, Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Heineken)
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"I might sell a brick on my birthday, 36 years of doing dirt like it’s Earth Day" - Most people celebrate their birthdays by blowing out candles; Pusha has a different kind of blow in mind. (Photo: Evan Agostini/PictureGroup)
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"Every car driven was decided by the horse / Keep the sticker in the window, case you wonder what it cost" - Pusha is a serious automobile connoisseur. Yes, he may go for suicide doors, but it's all about what's under the hood — horsepower, specifically. Then again, he could just be shouting out Porsche, Mustang and Ferrari, all of which have horses in their logos. (Photo: John Ricard / BET)