Pusha T

Terrence Thornton  (born May 14, 1977)  better known by his stage name  Pusha T (short for Pusha Ton), is an American  hip hop  recording artist and one half of hip hop duo  Clipse, along with his brother and fellow  rapper  Gene "No Malice" Thornton. He is also the co-founder and co- chief executive officer  (CEO) of  Re-Up Records  along with his aforementioned brother. In September 2010, he announced his signing to  Kanye West 's  GOOD Music   label  and on March 21, 2011, released his first solo project, a  mixtape  titled  Fear of God. He plans to release his debut album  My Name Is My Name  on July 16, 2013.

1977-2009: Early life and career beginnings
Pusha T was born Terrence Thornton on May 14, 1977, in  The Bronx  borough of  New York City. [4] [5] Thornton and his family soon relocated to  Norfolk, Virginia , where he and his brother, Gene 'No Malice' Thornton, grew up. In 1992 Terrence and his brother Gene formed the duo now internationally known as  Clipse. With help from  Pharell Williams  the group eventually signed to  Elektra Records  in 1997 and released  Exclusive Audio Footage, their only album under that label. Of the two brothers, Terrence was more open to  features, appearing on  Kelis ' 1999  single  " Good Stuff " and  Nivea 's 2001 single " Run Away (I Wanna Be with U) ", respectively. In 2004, he and his brother launched their record label ,  Re-Up Records  and formed hip hop group  Re-Up Gang  along with rappers  Ab-Liva  and Sandman. In 2006, they released their third studio album and their most commercial album,  Hell Hath No Fury, which was praised by critics. After one more album as the Clipse in 2009, both No Malice and Pusha T announced that they were taking time off from the duo to focus on their own respective solo projects.

2010-2012: Solo career with GOOD Music and Fear of God series
Following his signing to  GOOD Music  in September 2010, Thornton was featured on a number of fellow label mates' projects such as Kanye West 's  My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy  appearing on his  hit  " Runaway " and premiering the song with him at the  2010 MTV Video Music Awards  on September 12, 2010. He was also featured on several tracks from West's  GOOD Fridays  series and made other appearances on  Swizz Beatz 's Monster Mondays series,  Lloyd Banks '  H.F.M. 2 (Hunger for More 2)  and  tabi Bonney 's  Fresh, respectively. On the week of December 16, 2010, Thornton signed exclusively with  NUE Agency. On February 11, 2011,  Funkmaster Flex  debuted Thornton's first solo offering on  New York City 's  Hot 97. The track, titled "My God", was produced by  Hit-Boy  and was generally well received by the public. Soon after, the song  leaked  onto the internet, however was not officially released through  iTunes and  Amazon  until August 24, 2011. On March 21, 2011, Thornton released his first solo project, a  mixtape  titled  Fear of God, which included "My God" and featured  freestyles  and other original songs. Soon after he began working on his debut  EP   Fear of God II: Let Us Pray, which initially included four songs from the mixtape and five new songs. On August 31, 2011, it was announced Thornton signed a solo record deal with  Def Jam. The EP was originally set to released on June 21, 2011,  it was than pushed back to August 23, and for a while September 27, 2011, was believed to be the date, however on October 6, 2011, Thornton announced the EP is set to drop November 8, 2011. In addition it was revealed he added four more songs to the EP making it 12 tracks rather than just the nine tracks that were previously announced.

The first  single  from  Fear of God II: Let Us Pray  was leaked onto the Internet on July 8, 2011. The song, titled " Trouble on My Mind ", features   Odd Future  frontman,  Tyler, The Creator. The EP's second single, "Amen" was released September 13, 2011. The song, originally meant for  Young Jeezy, was produced by  Shawty Redd  and features verses from Kanye West and Young Jeezy respectively. After the EP's release on November 8, the project debuted at number 66 on the  Billboard 200  with 8,900 copies sold in its first week released. It also entered at number ten on  Billboard ' s  R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, at number eight on  Billboard ' s  Top Rap Albums , and at number 25 on its  Digital Albums  chart. In 2011, Thornton appeared on the second season of the  HBO   series   How to Make It in America. He played the  role  of a henchman for Urban Caribbean League. Soon after the release of his EP, Pusha T started working on his yet-to-be-titled, solo debut  studio album, which is being executive produced by  Kanye West  and includes  production  from  The Neptunes ,  Bangladesh ,  Ryan Leslie  and  Alex da Kid. Thornton has stated that after his solo album and the  Re-Up Gang mixtape,  Long Live the Cane, he and his brother No Malice, will reunite and release another album. In late 2011, English  pop  singer  Pixie Lott  released " What Do You Take Me For? ", the second single from her second studio album  Young Foolish Happy  which featured Pusha T. The song was a  hit single  in the U.K., peaking at number ten on the charts.

2012-present: Cruel Summer and My Name is My Name
On October 19, 2011, Kanye West announced via  Twitter  plans for a Spring 2012  GOOD Music  album release. On April 6, 2012, " Mercy ", the  lead single  from the GOOD Music  compilation album   Cruel Summer  was released. The song, produced by newly-signed in-house producer Lifted, features Pusha T along with Kanye West,  Big Sean  and  southern rapper   2 Chainz. On May 24, 2012, Pusha T released a song titled "Exodus 23:1" featuring  The-Dream. It is speculated that the song is a  diss track  aimed at  Young Money  rappers  Drake  and  Lil Wayne. This resulted in a diss-song by Lil Wayne, to which Thornton did not respond, but called "horrible" in an interview. He was then featured alongside West on the third single for  Cruel Summer  - " New God Flow ". In October 2012, Pusha T made an appearance on the  soundtrack to the film   The Man with the Iron Fists  on a track titled "Tick Tock" alongside fellow American rappers  Raekwon ,  Joell Ortiz  and  Danny Brown.

On October 8, 2012, Thornton released " Pain " featuring southern rapper  Future, the first single from his upcoming debut album. That same day  Spin magazine  reported that Pusha T's debut album had been pushed back until 2013. While performing in  Vancouver ,  Canada, it was reported that Pusha T announced he would be releasing a mixtape entitled  Wrath of Cain  preceding the release of his debut studio album. Later in November, Thornton announced the title of his debut studio album to be,  My Name Is My Name. On December 5, 2012 Thornton released "Blocka" the first offering from his  Wrath of Caine  mixtape. The song features Travis Scott and Popcaan. The music video for the song was released on December 11, 2012. The mixtape was released on January 28, 2013 along with his album coming at the end of the first quarter of 2013. In January 2013 it was announced that Pusha would be performing at the 2013  Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

My Name is My Name  is scheduled to be released on July 16, 2013. The album will feature production from  Kanye West ,  The Neptunes, The-Dream ,  Just Blaze ,  No I.D. ,  Nottz ,  Don Cannon  and  Swizz Beatz , and features from  Rick Ross ,  2 Chainz , Kanye West and  Kendrick Lamar  among others. In an interview with  AskMen, Thornton revealed that shortly after his debut album is released, he will finish working on his sophomore album, entitled  King Push.

Yale University murder reference
In 2009 Pusha T released the track "illin", featuring the lines "No amount of record sales could derail this. Stuffing dead prezzies in the wall like that Yale Beyotch." This line caused controversy by making fun of the murder of  Yale   graduate student  Annie Le not long after  her murder  in 2009.

Feud with Consequence
After releasing "My God", the first offering off his solo mixtape, former  GOOD Music  label mate  Consequence  took to  Twitter  and claimed Pusha T stole his flow and lyrics from a song of his that Pusha T was supposed to appear on, titled "The Last Supper". On July 22, 2011 Consequence released a song titled "The Plagurist Society" where he takes shots and questions Pusha T’s  coke-dealing raps. Towards the end of the record the Queens native promises to take aim at Kanye West next saying "You're nothing but a body shield, for that coward from the mid-west/ so yes you can bet, that your boss is next". Pusha T responded to the  diss  when he appeared on  Chicago’s 107.5 WGCI’s The Morning Riot  and said nobody is looking for Consequence, as for if he will respond on a record he went on to say "At the end of the day I am an artist and this whole rap thing is fun to me, so I can't say you won't hear nothing, but to go back and forth with him, it's not right, I won't get anything out of it." Later that day, Consequence called in to Chicago’s WGCI’s The Morning Riot in retaliation to the remarks Pusha T made about him. He also premiered a song titled "Everybody Told Me 2 (Straighten It Out)" where he disses West, Pusha T and GOOD Music in general. Since then Pusha T has responded to Consequence on a record. The song was the remix to  Ace Hood 's " Go 'N' Get It " which also featured  Beanie Sigel ,  Busta Rhymes and  Styles P. In the song Pusha raps "Consequence, nigga, talk is cheap You don't want a problem? Off the beef Before I off his ass with his awful teeth". On August 19, Consequence released  Movies on Demand 3  and continued to  diss  his former label and Pusha T on songs such as "Career Killer" and "Mr.RapFix (Hot Water)". On September 15, 2011 Consequence appeared on  MTV 's Rap Fix and announced his feud with Kanye West and GOOD Music are over. While out in Chicago in October 2011, Pusha T appeared on WGCI radio for a second time, and confirmed that the "beef" was indeed over, that it had died out and they have moved on.

Feud with Lil Wayne
ension between Pusha T and rapper, Lil Wayne, had been going on for years, beginning soon after  Clipse  and  Birdman  worked on "What Happened to That Boy", the latter's 2002 single. In 2006, Wayne felt the Clipse song " Mr. Me Too " was directed at him which caused more tension between the two. In 2012 after much speculation that Pusha T was subliminally dissing Canadian rapper and Wayne's  Young Money  signee  Drake  in several songs, the speculation heightened after the release of Pusha T's "Exodus 23:1" song. Lil Wayne quickly responded on online social networking service  Twitter  and later released a diss track titled "Goulish". In the first verse Wayne raps "Fuck Pusha T and anybody that love him / His head up his ass, I'mma have to head-butt him". Pusha T has called Wayne's diss track "horrible" and said he felt it didn't deserve a response. Both men have downplayed the feud, with Wayne saying he's over it. However in late November, Pusha T dissed Wayne and  Birdman  on a new  Ludacris  song titled "Tell Me What They Mad For" from his  Ludaversal  (2013) album. Pusha T later revealed his motivation for the verse: "Oh because it's a  Swizz  beat. You got to blame Swizz. See, when Wayne got a Swizz beat... with the "Ghoulish" track; he got busy, well he tried to."

Discography
Also See: Pusha T Discography and Clipse Discography ​
 * Studio albums
 * My Name Is My Name (2013)
 * King Push (TBA)
 * Extended plays
 * Fear of God II: Let Us Pray (2011)
 * Collaborative albums
 * Exclusive Audio Footage (1998) (with Malice as Clipse)
 * Lord Willin' (2002) (with Malice as Clipse)
 * Hell Hath No Fury (2006) (with Malice as Clipse)
 * Clipse Presents: Re-Up Gang (2008) (with Re-Up Gang)
 * Til the Casket Drops (2009) (with Malice as Clipse)
 * Cruel Summer (2012) (with GOOD Music)

 ==Awards and nominations[edit] == Grammy Awards

Contributions to G.O.O.D. Music

 * Records under the label
 * Starred in the "Cruel Summer" film
 * Recorded for the G.O.O.D. Fridays weekly music giveaway

Cruel Summer Album:

 * For The Overall Album Served As: primary artist
 * Wrote hit single "Mercy", was also primary artist
 * Wrote hit single "New God Flow", was also primary artist
 * Wrote the track "The Morning", was also primary artist
 * Wrote the track "Higher", was also primary artist
 * Wrote mega-hit song "I Don't Like" (Remix), was also primary artist

My Name Is My Name Album:

 * For The Overall Album Served As: primary artist
 * Wrote the single "Pain", was also primary artist
 * Wrote the track "40 Acres", artist
 * Wrote the single "Who I Am", was also primary artist
 * Wrote the track "Numbers On The Boards", artist
 * Wrote the track "TBA (To Be Announced)" featuring Kendrick Lamar; Information is currently lacking.

Fear of God II: Let Us Pray EP:

 * For The Overall EP Served As: composer, executive producer, A&R
 * Wrote the track "Changing of the Guards", was also primary artist
 * Wrote the track "Amen", was primary artist
 * Wrote the track "Trouble On My Mind", primary artist
 * Wrote the track "What Dreams Are Made Of", artist
 * Wrote the track "Body Work", primary artist
 * Wrote the track "Everything That Glitters'', primary artist
 * Wrote the track "So Obvious", artist
 * Wrote the track "Feeling Myself", artist
 * Wrote the track "Raid", primary artist
 * Wrote the track "My God", artist
 * Wrote the track "I Still Wanna", primary artist
 * Wrote the track "Alone in Vegas", artist

Wrath Of Caine Mixtape:

 * For The Overall Mixtape Served As: primary artist
 * Wrote the hit single "Millions", primary artist
 * Wrote the track "Doesn't Matter", primary artist
 * Wrote mega-hit single "Blocka", primary artist
 * Wrote track "Road Runner", primary artist
 * Wrote track "Revolution", artist
 * Wrote track "Only You Can Tell It", primary artist
 * Wrote track "Trust Me", primary artist
 * Wrote track "Take My Life", primary artist
 * Wrote track "I Am Forgiven", primary artist