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Pusha T Held Back Tears Sharing Heartbreak Over Parents’ Death Months Apart

Pusha T
Pusha T / YouTube

With new work soon to be released, it’s expected that Pusha T would be making the media rounds, but his candid interview recently with Charlamagne Tha God was certainly an eye-opener.

In discussing the album on the horizon, titled It’s Almost Dry, Pusha T had to fight off the tears of anguish as he described what it’s been like to lose his parents just months apart. A truly heartbreaking time for anyone.

He admitted that he was still grieving, having lost both his mother and father just four months apart from each other. While he said he understands that they probably went that way because they could not live without each other, a teary-eyed Pusha also said that he was grieving in a selfish way at the moment because of just how much he misses them.

What makes it harder for the “Diet Coke” rapper is that he shared a very close relationship with both parents. In describing the relationship while speaking with Charlamagne Tha God, he had had to ask for a minute and a tissue to fight back the tears.

When he returned to the interview, he explained that his parents helped him to look at what legacy truly means, and he’s taking the time to make sure that he leaves the right type of legacy for his own children.

“With a tainted legacy, you don’t have that. I think about my son and he’s gonna be able to look at the legacy of his dad and be like, ‘Oh man, he was amazing.’ That’s my goal ’cause they was amazing,” he added.

The “Mercy” rapper went on to say that losing a parent is like losing your own personal superhero no matter what age they were or how weak they may have gotten. His dad, Gene Elliott Thornton Sr. passed away last month, while his mother, Mildred, died in November 2021. At the time of his father’s passing, Pusha T used Instagram to share his devastation at his loss with his fans.

“I love you Dad…you taught me to remain poised, to always be calculated, to be prideful, and to respect hustle and hard work but to know the difference between the two. I am who I am because of you and I’ve always been proud to be your son. We are all gonna miss you… R.I.P. Gene Elliott Thornton Sr. P.S. We all know what this is abt, kiss my mom for me,” he posted at the time.

During the interview, he also went into deep detail about the previously unreleased track “Brambleton,” which he explained was a very personal track to him since it dealt with an issue near to his heart.

He explained that when he wrote the track, he had reached a point in his career when he felt free enough to get the issue of his chest. The song in question was used to address his feelings about the interview former Clipse manager Anthony “Geezy” Gonzalez did with VladTV in 2020. In that interview, Gonzalez described why he and Pusha T no longer see eye to eye.

What got to him, he admitted, was the fact that he admired and had nothing but respect for Gonzalez. When the comments were made, he instantly knew that the Geezy he knew was no longer his friend. The comments in the interview hurt him even though he feels that maybe they were taken out of context. That’s because, according to him, Geezy is not a good orator or commentator.

“And I personally think that he didn’t even mean to put the way that he did. He’s since said in other interview, ‘Oh I didn’t mean it like that.’ but it was the fact that he needed that attention and he would play with me and do something to garner some attention that could slight me,” he added.

The difficult part of that interview for Pusha to swallow was the fact that Geezy was somebody who his mother loved. That’s why he used the track to let the world know who he truly is and his mental approach to life, whether it’s his music or his life on the streets.

He also used the track to let people know that he has never been a person who looked at somebody with more than him and felt envious. He also shared that “Brambleton” is a street in Norfolk, Virginia, where his mother used to live and work.