Coachella 2013: Pusha T draws large crowd to Gobi Tent
INDIO – Hip-hop artist Pusha T did not bring out his label owner Kanye West for his Saturday night performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival but it appeared he didn’t need to.
Pusha T, who is on West’s “G.O.O.D. (Getting Out Our Dreams) Music record label, drew a large crowd inside the Gobi Tent without West and kept them energized his entire set using a mix of solo and group songs.
The Virginia Beach, Virginia based artist started off with a verse from “Grindin,'” his 2002 Neptunes produced hit with No Malice as a part of the group Clipse.
Similar to West, Pusha T did not bring out No Malice and the crowd did not seem to mind. He later jumped into a verse from the “Popular Demand (Popeyes),” another Clipse song, before moving into West songs “So Appalled” and “Runaway” off the “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” album.
Later, Pusha T performed songs off his mixtapes and even “Exodus 23:1,” his song widely believed to be a diss of hip-hop artist Drake and his record label Young Money.
His loudest responses came for his verses on “Mercy” and his 2Pac reference about Coachella on New God Flow, both on the 2012 G.O.O.D. Music compilation album “Cruel Summer.”
wes.woods@inlandnewspapers.com