Pusha T a stone cold master of the rap game at Birmingham gig

Hip-hop legend Pusha T has been displaying his lyrical mastery on the UK leg of his international tour (Library picture by Taylor Hill/WireImage)

‘Every time I touch the stage I give you my all, I give you my everything, I give you my family,’ Pusha T told a feverish crowd in Birmingham last night.

His tour date in the city may have been twice postponed as he worked on new music, but the hip-hop legend touched down seemingly determined to hit home three times as hard. 

The chronicler of stashed-away millions and ‘choppas in the closet’ evidently has a different source for his riches nowadays, and there was no sign of impatience at the packed O2 Institute.

He delivered with an electrifying set where every word was fired home with laser-guided precision. 

From the very first bar on the tyre-scorching opener, Let the Smokers Shine The Coupes, the Virginia Beach rapper, real name Terrence LeVarr Thornton, showed why he is arguably one of rap’s all-time greats.  

Pusha T whipped up the crowd on a ride into his world of dollar bills and narcotics during a high octane show (Picture: Josh Layton)

Whipping the crowd along with his impeccable flow and lyrical dynamism, the line ‘I’m Cocaine’s Dr. Suess’ was testament to his agile wordplay in matching an illicit past with a reflective present.

Peppered with references to narcotics dealing, his scorching set nevertheless showed no sign of gangster rap tropes and contained a wider range of reference points than many MCs will manage in a lifetime. 

Pusha, 46, was in good company at the Digbeth venue, latest stop on his delayed UK and European tour originally intended to mark the April 2022 launch of his fourth studio album, It’s Almost Dry. 

The roof-raising crowd chanted ‘f*** Drake’ without King Push ever mentioning the Canadian hitmaker’s name beyond oblique references to their beef within his tracks.

Pusha T displayed his lyrical mastery on a night when he showed why he is considered one of the rap greats (Picture: Josh Layton)

The massed show of loyalty followed Pusha sending out a warning to his rivals over an old school breakbeat on Hear Me Clearly, a rugged collaboration with Japanese musician and streetwear designer Nigo.  

An acapella intro launched If You Know You Know — and even those of us who have never been stopped by armed police while driving a Lamborghini, as per the video, were bouncing along to the faultless delivery.

Prowling the stage and signalling every word with heartfelt intent, Pusha clasped his hands together in prayer for the Kanye West-produced Santeria, mixing references to street wars with Biblical references and a Spanish language hook about how the angels are waiting for his enemies.

Even the more contemplative bars were delivered with fiery intensity.  

Mid-set, Pusha apologised for the postponements and told the crowd he appreciated ‘all the love and support’. 

As he briefly paused to sign vinyl copies of It’s Almost Dry passed up to the stage, there was nothing but a sea of love for the songwriter, who resumed with Diet Coke, where a Notorious B.I.G-feel underscores an ode to the life of a dope pusher made good.

Pusha’s many faces also include that of a family man, with the ‘I give you my all’ declaration coming before Rock N Roll, a collaboration with Ye and Kid Cudi which features on the latest album.

‘My son is like a work of art, his father’s like Shakespeare,’ he rapped, the background visuals showing pictures of family scenes. 

A mosh pit then opened up — and briefly consumed the writer’s car keys — as the lyricist detonated Mercy, which is even more an absolute earthquake of a track when felt live.

Pusha T’s lyrical prowess held sway on a night when he made the crowd feel part of his rap family (Picture: Olivier, @alvvaysvinyl)

Conscious of those who helped propelled him to four studio albums, Grammy nominations and tie-ups with a constellation of music stars, he paused to thank ‘all my day ones’. 

Late in the show, this might as well have been everyone present.  

The crowd was a charged mass of adulation by the time he wrapped up an encore with Nosetalgia.

The devilishly clever take on life and death in the hood usually features Kendrick Lamar, but this was a night that firmly belonged to one of rap’s greatest exponents.

MORE : A history of Drake and Pusha T’s decade long beef

The rap legend proved a master wordsmith on the latest stop in his tour of the UK and Europe.