Terrence Thornton (born May 14, 1977) better known by his stage name Pusha T is an American recording artist, occasional actor and one half of the critically acclaimed hip hop duo Clipse. He is also the co-founder and co-chief executive officer (CEO) of Re-Up Records along with his brother Gene 'Malice' Thornton. In September 2010 he announced that he has signed to Kanye West's GOOD Music label and on March 21, 2011 released his first solo project, a mixtape titled Fear of God. Early life and career beginnings
Thornton was born in The Bronx, New York City but soon relocated to Virginia Beach, Virginia where he and his brother were raised. In 1992 Terrence and his brother Gene formed the duo now internationally known as Clipse. With help from Pharell Williams the group 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 label Re-Up Records and formed hip hop group the Re-Up Gang along with rappers Ab-Liva and Sandman. After four albums as the Clipse, under various record labels both Malice and Pusha T announced that they were taking time off from the duo to focus on their own respective solo projects
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 many G.O.O.D. Friday tracks along with appearing on Swizz Beatz's "Bang Bang" for his 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 11th, 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 but 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 to critical acclaim. Currently he is working on his EP Fear of God II: Let Us Pray, which initially included four songs from the mixtape and five original ones. The EP was originally set to released on June 21st, 2011, it was than pushed back to August 23rd, and for a while September 27 was believed to be the date, however on October 6th, 2011 Thornton announced the EP is set to drop November 8th. 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. He is also working on his solo debut album, yet to be titled, which includes production from The Neptunes, Kanye West, Bangladesh, Ryan Leslie and Alex da Kid.Thornton has stated that after his solo album and the Re-Up Gang mixtape, Long Live the Cane, he and his brother Malice will release another album as the Clipse. On July 8, 2011, the first offering off Fear of God II: Let Us Pray leaked onto the internet. The song, titled "Trouble on My Mind" features Odd Future frontman, Tyler, The Creator. On August 31st, 2011 it was announced Thornton signed a solo record deal with Def Jam.[15] On September 23rd, 2011, English pop singer Pixie Lott announced "What Do You Take Me For?", the second single off her second studio album Young Foolish Happy features Pusha T
