Tampa rapper Pusha Preme is part of a local hip-hop showcase happening in East Tampa on Friday night, and he arrives there with a nice feather in his cap.
Over the last few weeks, Money In the Grave, a compilation featuring the Preme track “Heaven At Night” peaked at no. 18 on Billboard’s compilation albums chart. The seven-track collection also hit no. 1 on the iTunes Top 40 US Hip-Hop Albums chart.
The track was produced by Ndroid beats and recorded at Grand Bay Recording Studio where in 2019 hip-hop pioneer Diamond D gathered a who’s who of Tampa hip hop to preview new album.
Pusha Preme—who often performs backed by strings from Omari Dillard and in studded masks a la Yeezus-era Kanye—told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that he’s been working the record for two years and even saw it chart in South Africa before COVID-19 hit. But for him, the pandemic was a blessing and a curse as it led to the record falling in the lap of manager, publicist and author Amanda Gaines (Amada Records, SS Global Entertainment).
“She was the reason I was able to get distribution with Universal Music Group, which played a part in the exposure of the record,” Preme wrote. “Once it hit 100K streams I noticed the traction was leaking over to my current album [last year’s Before I Say, I Do]. At the end of it I’m currently sitting on over 200K streams.”
Pusha Preme plays Crave Restaurant and Bar—located at 2001 E Fowler Ave. in the University Square area—on Friday, March 26. If you miss it, he’s currently working with promoters FWD Thinkers and CL favorite Mike Mass to get more gigs in the area.
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