The spacey, otherworldly by Kanye West on Pusha T’s latest single “Lunch Money” makes for the perfect antithesis to Push’s boastful coke rap lyrics, and sets the Virginia emcee up perfectly to release a new album that will make him worthy of being solidified as a true leader of new millennium hip hop. The video is also a practice in ideas that might not at first seem to go together: as Pusha arrogantly mocks the competition, around him is a stripped down, barren, drug-riddled environment dominated by pop lockers and hood rich dope boy decadence. It’s a simplistic and unexpected approach, but it allows the song to take center stage. And at this stage, that’s exactly how it should be as “Lunch Money” makes hip hop heads salivate for Pusha T’s next full-length project.

– Ron Grant