Untouchable

Album: King Push - Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The song's thunderous beat was supplied by the hitmaker Timbaland. "I basically just hit Tim up one night," Pusha T explained on Genius. "I work out of his studio in Virginia. He's never there, and he literally lets me record whatever I want to record for free. So we've always had a rapport, simply on that note - he never owed me no music, or no beats. But I just asked him, like 'Yo. What's up man, I need some heat.'"
  • The braggadocios banger features a vocal sample from Notorious B.I.G.'s verse on Pudgee's 1995 cut "Think Big." Pusha said: "[Timbaland] gave me the beat as is. He gave me everything with the B.I.G. line in it. It was based around rap and feeling untouchable. He called me with that untouchable attitude, and I definitely had the untouchable rap attitude, and attacked it that way."
  • Rolling Stone asked Pusha T how the collaboration with Timbaland came together. He replied: "I work in Timbaland's studio in Virginia a lot and I reached out to him because I wanted to do things that people hadn't heard and I've never worked with Timbaland and people were like 'why hasn't that happened yet?' We're both from Virginia and I was raised around this guy. We had just never done it. But you know, my friends that are in music, they've been my friends for all my life, so I don't sort of see it how everybody else sees it."

    "Anyway, I asked for it and he called me at 4:30 in the morning ranting and raving about how he is hip-hop and how nobody can touch team Timbo. He was like, 'You asked me for something and I'm giving you everything that you're looking for and you don't need to look nowhere else because I am hip-hop!' Those were his words to me and then he sent me a file that included 'Untouchable.'"

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Colin Hay

Colin HaySongwriter Interviews

Established as a redoubtable singer-songwriter, the Men At Work frontman explains how religion, sobriety and Jack Nicholson play into his songwriting.

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce PavittSong Writing

The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.

A Monster Ate My Red Two: Sesame Street's Greatest Song Spoofs

A Monster Ate My Red Two: Sesame Street's Greatest Song SpoofsSong Writing

When singers started spoofing their own songs on Sesame Street, the results were both educational and hilarious - here are the best of them.

Verdine White of Earth, Wind & Fire

Verdine White of Earth, Wind & FireSongwriter Interviews

The longtime bassist of Earth, Wind & Fire discusses how his band came to do a holiday album, and offers insight into some of the greatest dance/soul tunes of all-time.

Def Leppard Quiz

Def Leppard QuizMusic Quiz

Can you name Def Leppard's only #1 hit in America? Get rocked with this adrenalized quiz.

Scott Stapp

Scott StappSongwriter Interviews

The Creed lead singer reveals the "ego and self-fulfillment" he now sees in one of the band's biggest hits.