That summer of Kanye is supposed to officially start May 25, which is tomorrow, Friday. Pusha T, aka King Push, formerly of the Clipse and currently GOOD Music’s version of Dylan X5, is slated to drop his seven-track album produced entirely by Kanye West, Daytona, Friday (or maybe at midnight Thursday). And I won’t be listening.
See, I’ve been doing my protest pushups. Sipping my Eracism Ensure! I’m out here making sure I’m being the change I want to see. I’m out on the NFL, Starbucks has only gotten $4 of my money ever, and I’m pretty sure I’ve actively boycotted all of the shit I was supposed to boycott. I used to keep a list but it got too long, so I quit keeping track.
Ever since Kanye turned into “Make America great again” Kanye and talked about slavery being a choice, no matter what folks want him to have said, I’ve been doing my damnedest to avoid all things Kanye.
That includes bypassing all of his music that I love in favor of other things I also love. And that also means that I’m going to have to miss out on skip stand tall boycott all of the albums coming out in the coming weeks produced by Kanye. No Nas. No Cudi (which, if you can remember, I was very excited about). No Teyana Taylor. No Kanye. No Pusha T. No nothing.
While I know everybody else will be talking about how fire the album is, and my social media timelines will become littered with references for which I will have no context, I will be staying true to my belief system and withholding my support. Or something. Who knows how long this will last? Truly it feels like I’m punishing myself.
Be that as it may, here is a list of 25 things I might do other than listen to Pusha T’s Daytona album Friday (or ever!):
1. Take pictures of dockless bikes in Washington, D.C.;
2. Pick a flower;
3. Try to find my CD copy of De La Soul’s De La Soul Is Dead album that I just cannot seem to find even though I even went to my storage unit at 6 something in the morning to dig through boxes;
4. Try to determine if I can still make Tiddy Sprinkles jokes now that we know that Morgan Freeman officially tried to buy NBC;
5. Continue Start reading Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”;
6. Peruse sneaker websites and tell myself that I will not buy any more shoes;
7. Fail at that;
8. Buy more shoes that I don’t need;
9. Read extremely premature think pieces inspired by Daytona about the genius of Kanye versus the lunacy of Kanye battling each other because of the passing of his mother 10 years ago;
10. Write an extremely premature think piece inspired by Daytona about the genius of Kanye versus the lunacy of Kanye battling each other because of the passing of his mother 10 years ago (oh, right, I won’t be listening);
11. Get my car washed;
12. Listen to the Car Wash soundtrack;
13. Get the oil changed in my car, since I already paid for that shit with the service plan I bought for the ride;
14. Go buy Black Panther on DVD;
15. Go buy a DVD player since my kids have actually broken all of the ones I have in the house;
16. Watch Black Panther on DVD;
17. Read premature reviews of Daytona;
18. Argue with people who keep texting me about the album even though they know I’m not listening to it;
19. Listen to Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and Cappadonna’s “Daytona 500” on repeat;
20. Then listen to Bob James’ “Nautilus” on repeat;
21. Listen to Sounds of Blackness’ “Optimistic” while keeping my head to the sky;
22. Attend a drum circle, for the culture;
23. SMH at anybody I hear driving by with dope music that sounds like Pusha T is rapping over;
24. Silently judge with envy as people on my timelines argue about whether or not Kanye is the greatest to ever have done it;
25. Rewatch My Sidepiece Hit the Lotto.