When it comes to drug dealer rap, there are very few artists in the game these days who can keep up with Pusha T, world-class coke (bar) dealer extraordinaire — but most of them come from the roster of Buffalo, New York’s Griselda Records. Somehow, Pusha has never collaborated with any member of the Shady-affiliated upstate crew, but that changes today with the release of “18 Wheeler,” a menacing, stone-faced bruiser of a track featuring Benny The Butcher. It premiered on Complex, finding both rappers in top form as they bid to outdo each other with rhymes full of price talk, casual threats, and lethal luxury.
DJ Shay provides a horror thriller beat hard enough to knock the art off the walls, while Benny coolly reflects that “if me and Push would have linked back when I was a dealer / That’s a 18-wheeler to my tower in Virginia.” Pusha comes in with the second verse decrying social media money phones and boasts that he’s “the only drug dealer out at Fashion Week.” If art really reflected life, both would end up in prison for the rest of their days. They make the criminal activities sound as alluring as the high-end lifestyles they purport to maintain, and if they have a full-length project in the stash, this free sample is sure to keep the fiends coming back for more.
