CREDENTIALS: Best Rap Album Grammy nomination for DAYTONA, Complex’s Best Album of 2018, “The Story of Adidon”

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.” - 1 Samuel 17:45-46

David slayed the giant Goliath with fearlessness and a stone. We all know the story, whether we’ve read the Bible or not. It’s a reference we lean on whenever an underdog does the unthinkable. Finally, after years of baiting rap’s biggest star, Pusha-T battled Drake and won. Except those of us who had been following Push’s career since we banged the “Grindin’” beat on lunch tables weren’t surprised. The Virginia-by-way-of-the-Bronx MC has been an elite lyricist for decades, never losing a step or forgetting the rules of the game. Even if those who come down from their ivory towers and try to dictate those rules whenever it suits them (as Drake attempted to do) are constantly moving the goalposts.

What’s ironic about Push’s year in 2018 is that “The Story of Adidon” was just icing on the cake—or at least that’s what hindsight tells me. DAYTONA is flawless, a seven-track opus made specifically for those in the know. It’s his Reasonable Doubt. His third studio album is straight to the point like his raps, loaded with quotables that would’ve been highlighted in The Source, had the project come out two decades ago. Kanye’s production serves as the organ player to Push’s coke-fueled sermons. No song on the project embodies that dynamic better than its most underrated track, “Come Back Baby.”

I was lucky enough to hear this particular song early. I was in my motherland of Puerto Rico for the first time in my life. We sat in the parking lot, blowing it down, drunk, with bellies full of mamposteao, when the homie decided to give me a sneak peak. I shit you not, I felt like I was in church, and the weed began to smell like the incense in a thurible. Almost a year later, that King Hannibal gospel/funk sample still brings me closer to God. But Push thinks more highly of “Games We Play.”

“I think ‘Games We Play’ is the best hip-hop song of 2018,” he tells Complex after learning he’s been crowned 2018’s Best Rapper Alive. “That is the best pure hip-hop record of 2018, by far. I don’t know if there’s a better marriage of beats and lyricism.”

Like every rapper of his ilk, King Push has never been humble when it comes to his bars. And he’s never been shy about throwing shots at your favorite rappers in the name of sport.

He lured Drake for years, most notably with the 2012 subfest that was “Exodus 23:1,” where he came at Drake and Lil Wayne for being led astray by Birdman, two years before Weezy called his longtime label boss out on Twitter.

“Contract all fucked up/I guess that means you all fucked up/You signed to one nigga that signed to another nigga/That’s signed to three niggas, now that’s bad luck/Damn, that shit even the odds now/You better off selling this hard now.”

The beef finally boiled over on the weekend DAYTONA dropped. Most of us thought nothing of the shots Push took at Cash Money on the album’s final track, “Infrared,” but Drake noticed, and finally took the bait. He fired back at Push on his release day with “Duppy Freestyle,” effectively shifting the conversation during DAYTONA’s rollout. Many jaws (including my own) dropped to the floor when we heard Drake’s vitriol. Never had he gone at another rapper the way he did Push on “Duppy.” Aubrey was sick of the ghostwriter shots and years of slick jabs at the hands of Terrence. Finally, Drake had removed the thorn in his side, swiftly swatting away a rapper who had been beneath him for nearly a decade, in terms of mainstream success.

And then, five days after the body shot that was “Duppy Freestyle,” Pusha returned, stone and sling in tow, and slayed Goliath with one of the most maniacal, strategic, and disrespectful diss records in recorded rap’s 40-year history. “The Story of Adidon” included multiple revelations, most notably that Drake had a secret child. As if that wasn’t enough, the cover art was an actual photo of Drake in blackface. And the “The Story of O.J.” beat was just…*chef’s kiss*.

“Adidon” hurt the Toronto rapper to his core, causing him to hit the eject button on an Adidas campaign centered around his son, go on HBO to spew propaganda, and allegedly offer six figures for any dirt he could find on Push. Goliath was brought back down to Earth, a humbling experience, to say the least. The sales are still there—they will always be—but the perception among rap fans who matter will be forever tainted.

Drake’s fall from grace was so embarrassing that it seems like, just a few weeks ago, he was still trying to gather intel on Push. Pusha clarified his tweeted warning (“You tried, you failed...I’m hearing you wanna try again”) by telling us, “Man, I think people got that tweet a little misconstrued. I don’t know why anyone ever said that was about music. I never said that.”

And with that, I leave you with this Bible quote from the Book of Exodus, Chapter 23, Verse 1:

“Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.”

The truth hurts. —Angel Diaz

HONORABLE MENTIONS: J. Cole, Drake, Travis Scott

2018 will be remembered as the year J. Cole took control of his own narrative. When the year began, teenagers at SoundCloud rap shows were still yelling “Fuck J. Cole” and making memes about his laundry rhymes. Then he dropped his most mature and complete work to date, KOD, an album that found Cole sharpening his pen while transitioning to the “big homie” phase of his career. A month later, he sat down for a conversation with Lil Pump, earning back some respect from the genre’s youngest stars (and quieting those “Fuck J. Cole” chants). Image intact, he set out to flip a longstanding myth that he’s a “no features” lone wolf who avoids collaboration. Jumping on songs with everyone from 6lack to Anderson .Paak, Cole made it clear that he can excel far outside the context of his own carefully constructed, self-produced albums. “OK no problem, I’ll show up on everyone album/You know what the outcome will be,” he rapped alongside 21 Savage on “a lot,” before flipping the script on everyone: “It’s got to the point that these rappers don’t even like rappin’ with me.” For years, we’ve known J. Cole could rap with the best artists on the planet, but in 2018 he finally shed some lingering stigmas that were holding him back. Now, it’s undeniable: J. Cole is one of the best rappers alive.

In more ways than one, 2018 was a disappointing year for Drake. After coming out swinging with back-to-back No. 1 singles, "Nice for What" and “God’s Plan,” he seemed well on his way to a career year. Then he poked a bear (Pusha-T), and the world found out he was hiding a child. Instead of responding directly, he countered with Scorpion, a 25-song double album that didn’t live up to high expectations. But even in an off year, Drake dominated the charts and managed to make his mark on 2018’s defining moments: His name appears on seven of Complex’s 25 best tracks of the year. 2018’s greatest song, “Sicko Mode,” wouldn’t have been nearly as special if it weren’t for Drake’s gift of delivering immediately repeatable (and memeable) gems while dropping intricate subliminals that would provide fodder for wild Twitter conspiracy threads. Once again, he proved he has a better grasp than anyone of making music designed for internet consumption—even during a moment in which public opinion had swayed against him for the first time. In 2018, one thing became clear: We can never count Drake out.

The notion of including Travis Scott on a Best Rapper Alive list caused so much debate in the Complex office that we had to call an emergency meeting. What are the qualifications to be considered a great rapper in 2018? Should the honor go to a lyrically driven artist with an unmatched pen, like Roc Marciano? Or should innovation and overall song-making abilities hold just as much weight as intricate rhyme schemes? Bar for bar, no one is arguing that Travis Scott was the best lyricist of 2018, and he doesn’t fit in the neatly defined package of what many hip-hop traditionalists look for in their favorite rappers. But he embodies exactly what the best rappers have always been about: a relentless drive to push boundaries.

In a decade, when we think of the albums that defined 2018 and shifted the genre, we’ll think of ASTROWORLD. As the expensive, ethereal spirit of “Stop Trying to Be God” transitions into a mosh pit anthem on “No Bystanders” (which features some of the best rapping of his career), you have to stop and appreciate how Travis has taken the momentum from every artist who came before him on this list and spun it into something new. Throughout ASTROWORLD, he tips his hat to acts like Three 6 Mafia, Goodie Mobb, and the Beastie Boys while recontextualizing their sounds in a way that works within the Travis Scott universe. Washed in Auto-Tune and delivered with an emphasis on tone-setting, his vocals are used in ways that wouldn’t have made sense 10 years ago. Working in the parameters of a genre that was born from a need to make something new out of existing materials, Travis Scott is leading the way for another generation and shifting the idea of the skill set that making great rap music requires. For that, he’ll be remembered as one of the best rappers of 2018. —Eric Skelton