Pusha T: My Name Is My Name – review

After more than a decade of rapping about selling cocaine, you might think Pusha T would be running out of white-lined road. But on the Marlo Stanfield-quoting, Kanye West-backed My Name Is My Name, Pusha manages to subtly reposition himself as a chart-ready street bard (while still weaving in the obligatory references to blow). His guests ease the transition, with pop acts (Chris Brown), dial-a-verse rappers (2 Chainz, Rick Ross) and Kanye's meandering Auto-Tune helping to give the album a clean sheen that wasn't present during his grimier Clipse period. But MNIMN works best when Pusha gets his hands dirty, goes into storyteller mode and hooks up with old pals such as Pharrell, who continues his 2013 midas touch on the cautionary tale S.N.I.T.C.H. Pusha sounds equally comfortable when showing off his lyrical dexterity on Suicide and Nosetalgia (geddit?), which features a verse from Kendrick Lamar and plays out like a game of drug-dealing top trumps.