Pusha T bought Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, or as it's been nicknamed, The Purple Tape, "at least 7 times," he revealed in a new VEVO segment that took him to Staten Island's Stapleton Houses to talk about the project's influence on his latest album Daytona. Anyone who's heard the project should recall Pusha's line declaring, "this is my Purple Tape," which, according to Push, happened after Kanye requested him to name some songs that inspired him, at least two of which coming off Rae's debut.
"As we listed the songs, I would say things -- 'Incarcerated Scarfaces,' 'Glaciers Of Ice,' -- there were certain records I was pulling out As we listened to those songs he would say things like "that's the feeling," he remembered. "If it can't evoke that feeling then that's not what we putting on the album. That's how we got that whole feeling of the album. When I say this is my Purple Tape, to me it was the best rendition I could have tried, the inspiration and feeling was something we were trying to harness.”
His first time in Staten Island, Push remembered thinking about the neighborhood the Wu-Tang Clan grew up in as he listened to their early material. "When we heard all this music, we were like what the hell is going on here? Where is this level of creativity coming from?" he said. "When I first heard Wu-Tang, I was just like, man, these guys are creative, they have their own language, their own lingo... This project, it gave you that hood perspective... We found a way to relate to it. "
In his opinion, the 1995-released album was special even among the many "golden age" released of the early-to-mid-90s. "This tape is out in a time of greatness. Huge hip-hop acts are surrounding this time and it just stood out above and beyond," he said.
The album may have contributed to the "first album energy" Push feels he achieved on the new album. "I think Daytona as far as my legacy goes, it's something I wish some of my favorites would have done. I just wanna hear the raw uncut them, sorta like how I met them artistically on their first albums. I feel like Daytona has that first album energy," he said, before looking around him. Maybe it's because of what was built from here."
Watch the full segment above.