DAYTONA

DAYTONAStudio album by Pusha T
General information
Released	May 25, 2018
Recorded	2017-2018
Studio	West Lake Ranch, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Genre	Hip-hop
Length	21:08 / 7 tracks
Label(s)	GOOD Music • Def Jam Recordings
Producer(s)	Kanye West (exec.) • Plain Pat • Noah Goldstein • Andrew Dawson • MIKE DEAN
Singles
1. "If You Know You Know" Released June 13, 2018

"DAYTONA" serves as American rapper Pusha T's Junior studio album, released on May 25, 2018 under Kanye West's label "GOOD Music" as well as Def Jam recordings. The album features executive production done by Kanye West who also features on the album alongside other artists Rick Ross as well as uncredited contributions from 070 Shake and Tony Williams. Additional production is done by artists signed under "Very Good Beats" such as MIKE DEAN and Andrew Dawson.

The album, at only 7 tracks and 21 minutes runtime was the first of the albums to be released from GOOD Music's Wyoming sessions, although the album dates back earlier to 2017.

Background

Initial Sessions

Main article: Blowbama

After Pusha T released his solo sophomore studio album, King Push: – Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude, he began work on his next album. In 2017, Pusha T began working with Kanye West extensively on this album which at this point in time had been named Blowbama. Very little is known about these sessions other than a confirmed early track list for the album.

At this time, the album was heavily speculated to be titled King Push, and was intended to be a sequel to his previous album. Its unclear if this ever was the case.

Daytona

In 2018 during sessions in Kanye's Wyoming ranch, most of the production for the songs had been redone by Kanye West before final release, especially on the songs If You Know You Know and Santeria. The album had been finalized in May and released on the 25th of 2018.

Throughout the album there had been several disses aimed at the Canadian rapper Drake, especially prevalent on the songs "What Would Meek Do?" and ""Infrared", in which Pusha T had called out Drake surrounding his ghostwriter accusations. As a result, Drake responded in his diss titled "Duppy Freestyle" in which he dissed Pusha and all of GOOD Music, which resulted in one of the most well-known rap beefs in history.

Reception

The album release on May 25th of 2018 to critical acclaim. DAYTONA was ranked the 18th best release of the year in The Wire magazine's annual critics' poll. Uproxx cited the album as one of the best rap releases of 2018. Complex magazine named Daytona the number 1 album of the year. He was also named Best Rapper Alive in 2018 by Complex for his work on the album Daytona. In 2019, Pitchfork ranked Daytona at number 188 in their list of "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s"; staff writer Alphonse Pierre wrote: "DAYTONA is the full realization of Pusha as a star...for all the storylines and drama that surrounded Daytona, the music rises above." At the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, Daytona received a nomination for Best Rap Album, but lost to Cardi B's Invasion of Privacy.

Tracklist

No.	Title			Length
1.	“If You Know You Know”			3:22
2.	“The Games We Play”			2:46
3.	“Hard Piano” (feat. Rick Ross)			3:15
4.	“Come Back Baby”			3:26
5.	“Santeria”			2:56
6.	“What Would Meek Do?” (feat. Kanye West)			2:33
7.	“Infrared”			2:50
			Total length:	21:10

Trivia

• The cover of the album is a photo of now-deceased singer Whitney Houston's drug paraphernalia-littered bathroom. The original cover had been replaced with this image just days before the album's final release.