Well, this is it. This is the kind of collaboration that we have been waiting for from Kanye West’s latest G.O.O.D. Friday series: “Mercy” was just a beat with some (more or less) empty rhymes over it, “I Don’t Like” was a fun but unrewarding remix, “Burn” simply had way too much Big Sean on it, and while “Exodus 23:1” was a fantastic track, it was entirely a Pusha T song. Now we have “New God Flow,” and it is the best example of what a G.O.O.D. Music team-up can generate and hopefully an indicator of what we can expect from Cruel Summer when it finally drops.
Bringing together the “Runaway” team of Yeezy and Pusha T, “New God Flow” is representative of hip hop at its best. Produced by West along with Chicago producers Boogz and Tapez, the beat has an underlying piano progression that is very much Moonlight Sonata-esque, with a sample from Ghostface Killah’s “Mighty Healthy” as the track’s hook: “Shake that body, party that body/ Come and have a good time with G.O.D.” The instrumental is methodical, but fierce at the same time, allowing the rapping and lyrics to come to the forefront. Once again Pusha T is in fine form, declaring himself and Kanye the new powerhouse team with lines like “I came aboard for more than just to rhyme with him/ Think ’99, when Puff woulda had Shyne with him” and “They said Pusha ain’t fit with the umbrella/ But I was good with the Yay as a wholesaler.”
With all these great elements, there wasn’t much that Kanye had to do to make this song great. So of course, Kanye decided to go even further than that. Coming in with a ferocity and soulfulness that is reminiscent of “Jesus Walks,” Yeezy’s long verse never lets up, with a consistently strong flow and biting lyrics: “Welcome to Sunday service if you hope to someday serve us/ We got green in our eyes, just follow my Erick Sermon/ Did Moses not part the water with the cane?/ Did strippers not make an arc when I made it rain?.” This is quality Yeezy, and a side of him that hasn’t been present on any of the G.O.O.D. Friday releases of late.
Pusha T had been raising the hype up for this song since it was announced, and now that we can listen to it, it’s safe to say that it was worth the wait. Kanye has something special here with “New God Flow,” so let’s hope that this is the direction he decided to take with Cruel Summer, and not just a fluke amongst a sea of Big Sean features.
