Watch Pusha-T Perform “If You Know You Know” On Kimmel

Watch Pusha-T Perform “If You Know You Know” On Kimmel

Pusha-T pushed out his really, really good new album DAYTONA last week. Despite the events of last night, it’s still the best evidence we have right now that Kanye West, who produced the entire LP, is still capable of real creative genius. And last night, Pusha performed its genius opening salvo “If You Know You Know” on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which also means that he got paid to rap about dealing drugs on national TV, which is sort of a flex all by itself.

When it was announced that Pusha was going to perform on Kimmel last night, plenty of people thought that maybe he’d have something to say about Kanye’s new album Ye, which also came out last night, or his rap beef-cum-blood feud with Drake, which has been all everyone on Twitter can talk about since Pusha, blood-gargling, bone-stomping conqueror that he is, straight-up eviscerated Drake with “The Story Of Adidon.” But no. He didn’t do either of those things. He just rapped.

Part of what makes Pusha so good is his laser focus and ability to cut through the bullshit, and that’s exactly what he did on Kimmel last night. And he gave a hell of a performance, too, managing to make one guy on a stage rapping into a mic as visually interesting as a bunch of highly choreographed backup dancers. For the first 45 seconds or so, he was lit up by an alternating red-and-blue strobelight that made him look like some kind of rap demon. And then when that transcendent sample that runs through the song came in, the light turned bright white and a giant eye popped up onstage behind him. Watch below.

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