Pusha T

Pusha T was born Terrence Thornton on May 13, 1977, in The Bronx borough of New York City. Thornton and his family soon relocated to Norfolk, Virginia, where he and his brother, Gene 'No Malice' Thornton, grew up. In 1992, Terrence and his brother Gene formed the duo Clipse. With help from American record producer and fellow Virginian Pharrell Williams, the duo eventually signed to Elektra Records in 1997 and released Exclusive Audio Footage, their only album under that label. Of the two brothers, Terrence was more open to features, appearing on Kelis' 1999 single "Good Stuff" and Nivea's 2001 single "Run Away (I Wanna Be with U)", respectively. In 2004, he and his brother launched their record label imprint, Re-Up Records and formed hip hop group Re-Up Gang, along with fellow rappers Ab-Liva and Sandman. In 2006, they released their third studio album and their most commercial album, Hell Hath No Fury, which was praised by critics. After one more album as the Clipse in 2009, both No Malice and Pusha T announced that they were taking time off from the duo to focus on their own respective solo projects. 2010–2011: Solo career; GOOD Music signing Following his signing to GOOD Music in September 2010, Thornton was featured on a number of fellow label mates' projects such as Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy appearing on his hit "Runaway" and premiering the song with him at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010. He was also featured on several tracks from West's GOOD Fridays series and made other appearances on Swizz Beatz's Monster Mondays series, Lloyd Banks' H.F.M. 2 (Hunger for More 2) and tabi Bonney's Fresh, respectively. On the week of December 16, 2010, Thornton signed exclusively with NUE Agency. On February 11, 2011, Funkmaster Flex debuted Thornton's first solo offering on New York City's Hot 97. The track, titled "My God", was produced by Hit-Boy and was generally well received by the public. Soon after, the song leaked onto the internet, however was not officially released through iTunes and Amazon until August 24, 2011. On March 21, 2011, Thornton released his first solo project, a mixtape titled Fear of God, which included "My God" and featured freestyles and other original songs. Soon after he began working on his debut extended play (EP) Fear of God II: Let Us Pray, which initially included four songs from the mixtape and five new songs. On August 31, 2011, it was announced Thornton signed a solo record deal with Def Jam. The EP was originally set to released on June 21, 2011, it was than pushed back to August 23, and for a while September 27, 2011, was believed to be the date, however on October 6, 2011, Thornton announced the EP is set to drop November 8, 2011. In addition it was revealed he added four more songs to the EP making it 12 tracks rather than just the nine tracks that were previously announced. Pusha T performing "Runaway" with West at Lollapalooza Chile in Santiago, 2011. The first single from Fear of God II: Let Us Pray was leaked onto the Internet on July 8, 2011. The song, titled "Trouble on My Mind", features Odd Future frontman, Tyler, The Creator. The EP's second single, "Amen" was released September 13, 2011. The song, originally meant for Young Jeezy, was produced by Shawty Redd and features verses from Kanye West and Young Jeezy respectively. After the EP's release on November 8, the project debuted at number 66 on the Billboard 200 with 8,900 copies sold in its first week released. It also entered at number ten on Billboard '​s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, at number eight on Billboard '​s Top Rap Albums, and at number 25 on its Digital Albums chart. In 2011, Thornton appeared on the second season of the HBO series How to Make It in America. He played the role of a henchman for Urban Caribbean League. Soon after the release of his EP, Pusha T started working on solo debut studio album, which would be executive produced by Kanye West. Thornton has stated that after his solo album and the Re-Up Gang mixtape, Long Live the Cane, he and his brother No Malice, would reunite and release another album. In late 2011, English pop singer Pixie Lott released "What Do You Take Me For?", the second single from her second studio album Young Foolish Happy which featured Pusha T. The song was a hit single in the U.K., peaking at number ten on the charts.