Pusha T: Yeah. So, he just called me one night, and it was like, “Bro, that song…” He was like, “The song is called ‘The Birds Don’t Sing. They Screech in Pain.'” You think they singing, but they’re really going through it. You see the beauty of them, but really, they’re in pain. And I don’t know where he got it from, but that evening, he definitely said that, that evening.
Malice: When I heard Pusha was writing “Birds,” I was like, This song will never get done because there’s no way. Because it was just so touching, so heartfelt, and it had so many emotions, but it was therapy. And looking at everything in hindsight, and then wondering about your parents’ thought patterns and the things that they were going through, but you only know what they’re showing you. But now that I look back, it’s so many things. I can tell you for one—we were talking about this earlier, but now when I look at my grandkids now, I’m like, Oh, I’m fighting for them now. That’s a responsibility, as a man, that I internally have taken on. And I thought, Dang, my dad must’ve felt the same way. And I know he felt the same way, but I didn’t know what that weight felt like. So, it’s like new revelations just open up to me all the time now.
Pusha T: Well, it starts off the album… We were like, “Man, this is actually the hardest record we’ve ever done by far.” People were crying every day, we’re crying through the sessions. It was a problem. It was like, “Yo, take a break.” People in there sewing in the next room, like, n-gga… it was crazy. So we said “Nah, this don’t go at the end of the album. This sets it off.”
Malice, your kids are a little bit older now. Was there a different kind of conversation about you coming back that you had to have with them?
Malice: No, but I will tell you that before my dad passed, we had a real conversation and I asked him. We were sitting in the car in front of my house, and I said, “What do you think about me going back to rapping?” And he said, “Son, I think you’ve been too hard on yourself.” And mind you, he’s a deacon in a church. But he said, “You still have to live in this world. You still have to provide for your family.” And just to hear him say that he thought I had been too hard on myself, it was an eye-opener. He always supported us. And my dad wasn’t… I don’t care what kind of money you brought home, what kind of car you drove. He was never taken by it. You know what I’m saying? He was like, “That’s nice,” and he was happy for us, but he wasn’t like, “Oh,” eyes light up and stuff like that. My dad was very chill. And very independent.
The email Pusha sent Kanye that could’ve inspired a streetwear powerhouse.
Pusha T: [Ye] goes on his rants. He’s like, “Where’s the gang shit? Where’s all this at?” The one thing that I can say about him is that he knows that every issue that he’s having and crying about online right now, I’ve told him distinctly about those things, distinctly. When he cries, and when he’s cursing out Virgil and disrespecting all of the cast of characters that have helped him build a lot of his shit and ancillary helped all of us creatively, right? That man knows that I was the only person who told him like, “Hey, man, Virgil got his line poppin… Why don’t you make your own LVMH, bro? You got Virgil. You got Yeezy. You have Just Don’s. His issue with me is because I’m always the truth-teller.
