Santeria

Album: Daytona (2018)
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Songfacts®:

  • On February 17, 2015, Pusha T's road manager De'Von "Day Day" Pickett was stabbed and killed during an attack in Philadelphia. Here, the rapper speaks to the spirit of his fallen friend expressing his distress over the tragedy.

    Darken my doorstep, they told me the day's gone
    You listening, De'von?
    As I'm talking to your spirit, for God's sakes
    I'm dealing with heartbreak
  • Santeria (Spanish for "The Way of the Saints") is an Afro- Cuban religion that uses mediums and divination in an attempt to communicate with spirits and deities. Pusha explained to Billboard:

    "I wanted to write a song that just embodies my emotion and let people know, we're sad. We were and we're extremely sad still today. But it's like, I just want to show people how my mind works, 'cause people don't even know -- people don't even know once a situation like that happened, and not everybody is as thought out as me. You know, you never know. And that's why, 'Now that the tears drying, the pain takes over. Let's talk this payola.' Then I go into, 'You killed God's baby,' and it wasn't his will and blood spill, we can't talk this s--t over?"
  • 070 Shake croons the refrain in Spanish. Pusha told Billboard: "I have a version with her singing it in Spanish and in English and I was like, 'Yo, do the Spanish one first.' And then 'Ye will just be like, 'F--k that, all Spanish. Keep that s--t pure. Let that s--t be what it be. They wanna find out. They'll find out. Let's not tell them. Let's stop doing this.'"

    North Bergen, New Jersey-based rapper and G.O.O.D. Music signee 070 Shake is also part of the 070 crew. She broke through in 2016 with her single "Trust Nobody" and released her debut six-track EP Glitter in March 2018. She also appears on Kanye West's Ye track "Ghost Town", along with John Legend and Kid Cudi.
  • 070 Shake had to redo the hook at the last minute because of sample clearance issues. Speaking to Pitchfork, she recalled how West asked her to do "a whole different melody" on the night before the Daytona release party. "So I'm like, 'OK. Let's go.' And I did that s--t in less than an hour - just came up with a new melody," she said.

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