The Pusha T Interview with Throwing Fits

Throwing Fits

In this episode of Throwing Fits, Grammy-winning rapper and co-founder of Grindin Coffee, Pusha T, joins the hosts for an in-depth conversation

Key takeaways

• Pusha T views launching Grindin Coffee as an extension of his task-driven work ethic, rooted in early mornings and productivity.
• His daily routine is highly structured—waking at 5 a.m., avoiding caffeine past midday, and going to bed by 9 p.m.

Main topics

• Launching Grindin Coffee
• Daily caffeine routine and habits

Notable quotes

"This whole grinding coffee was built off of just being task driven."

Conclusion

Pusha T leaves the podcast as a testament to his disciplined lifestyle

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Our guest this week is the Albert Einstein of the Alpine, the Joe Rogan of getting the snow blowing, the Venus and Serena of the meanest cocaine, the cave pop with the stove top, the bad bunny of the bag money, the Leo DiCaprio of the caps we sold, Master Yoda of the baking soda, his name of Jeff because he bag well, his coke don't spin the dreidel because it's uncut, his brick of snow will make your chick go trick and hoe, yellow diamonds look like pee-pee, you just talk the talk and he walk into LV, fly like Flacco and he move more zips than Riri, he left your shit on red like he ate the beet, the Ziplocs don't TikTok but he's still got the kids online, the snow is epic, and he moved more weight than Ozempic. At the cafe is the only time it's flat white. About to have the whole country off a bean. Not hard to see. He's the Elon Musk of the neon dust. Posting grams like he's the Zuckerberg of stuff and birds. Flexing ace trumpets in the loo. He got his arm strong. Grammy award winning artist. One half of the legendary clips and co-founder of Grind and Coffee. Push a T. Push. How are you? Speaker 1 (0:49) That was amazing, man. Thank you. That was amazing. Thank you. I've been Speaker 2 (0:52) working on that for... Five years. That's not just. Is Rehab Gang hiring? Yes. Okay. All right. Good to know. Speaker 3 (1:01) Left your shit on red like you ate the bean. I don't know. That's a little gross, but we'll take it. Okay. Speaker 2 (1:06) Push, thank you for coming Speaker 1 (1:07) on to The Speaker 2 (1:08) Only Podcast Matters. How are you? Speaker 3 (1:09) Man, Speaker 1 (1:09) really Speaker 2 (1:09) good, man. Thanks for having me. Of course, dude. Yeah. Push, before we get into coffee and so much more, can you quickly walk us through what you wore to pod today? You're looking quite fresh. Speaker 1 (1:18) Oh, man. This is. LV, new LV, exclusive. Head to toe. Head to toe. Can we see how Speaker 3 (1:26) you lace your Speaker 1 (1:28) Timbs? Oh, yeah. How I lace my Timbs? I don't even lace my Timbs. See, Lawrence? I don't lace the Timbs. As Speaker 2 (1:33) a white guy, I lace them respectfully. Oh, wow. Speaker 1 (1:37) You mean like hole for hole? Oh, my God. Yes, hole for hole, Speaker 2 (1:41) bro. He's gripping eyelets. Oh, my God. Okay. It's a problem. We're working on it. Yeah, it is. It is a problem. We're working on it. Please, Speaker 3 (1:48) man. Speaker 2 (1:48) Please. So Speaker 1 (1:49) the socks Louis too? Don't do that. No, the socks aren't Louis. What are the socks? Speaker 3 (1:52) Uniqlo. Oh. Yeah. Is that your socks of choice? Yes, always. And the fucking, let's talk about this set, bro. Speaker 1 (2:00) LV, it's like embossed, but like faded. Subtle. It's very subtle. Yeah. Understated, but you know, still monogram everywhere. Of Speaker 3 (2:08) course. You know. The white tee? Speaker 1 (2:10) White tea Speaker 3 (2:10) is Uniqlo. Okay. Is that your white tea of choice? Speaker 2 (2:12) Yes. Okay. So Uniqlo for all the basics and essentials. LV Speaker 1 (2:15) for Speaker 2 (2:15) everything else. Speaker 1 (2:16) Always. High low. High low. Yeah. You got to. Speaker 3 (2:18) You got a little something on your chest. Yeah. What's Speaker 1 (2:20) that? Speaker 3 (2:20) Oh Speaker 1 (2:20) man. This is a St. Jules. Okay. St. Jules. Lazarus pendant. Speaker 1 (2:29) Hermes link. Ooh. Flooded. Flooded. Everything flooded. Yeah. We Speaker 2 (2:33) can Speaker 1 (2:33) have a Speaker 2 (2:34) glow off. Pink Speaker 1 (2:35) diamonds, white diamonds. I forgot how many carats in the face. Speaker 3 (2:39) Bro, you got like a pharaoh on the chest. So many carats he forgot. Speaker 1 (2:43) Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, yeah. Is Speaker 3 (2:44) St. Jules your, that's your jeweler? Speaker 1 (2:47) That's my jeweler of choice when it comes to chains and pieces like that. My teeth. are usually done by Gabby. Right. Speaker 2 (2:59) You got a teeth girl. You got a chain guy. Yes. Yes. Yes. Speaker 3 (3:02) He did the almost dry chain, right? Speaker 1 (3:05) Yes. Speaker 3 (3:05) Yes. See, we're historians. Yes. Speaker 1 (3:07) What about the, the earrings are Lorraine Schwartz. Ooh. Lorraine Schwartz. Lorraine Schwartz. And that's from, Speaker 1 (3:16) I probably had these earrings about 10 years, maybe. What's Speaker 3 (3:19) the Lorraine Schwartz line? Like mining like Lorraine Schwartz? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1 (3:24) Anything Speaker 3 (3:25) on the wristicles? Speaker 1 (3:26) Oh, the wrist is Rolex rainbow. Oh, very nice. Not a bust down, obviously. Yeah. Speaker 3 (3:32) Rainbow Speaker 1 (3:32) Daytona. And when you go in Uniqlo, Uniqlo on the undies? No, Hanes. Speaker 2 (3:37) Hanes? Oh, okay. Speaker 3 (3:38) Wow. You heard it here first. Stars are just like us. I think you once said if you could wear Hanes head to toe, you would. And did you see they just dropped or maybe it's fruit of the loom. They just dropped a suit. Speaker 1 (3:47) Yeah. In Japan. No, no, no. I didn't. I didn't. Yeah. Speaker 3 (3:50) We got to get you one of those. We'll Speaker 1 (3:52) get Speaker 3 (3:52) you one of those. All right. And you're sipping on some grinding juice. Some mud. Right? Come on, man. Push. Let's get to the meat and pitos of the only podcast matters. Besides you being an expert in partnering with local specialists. sourcing a premium stimulant from South America, shipping that product into America, breaking up into individual units and distributing said product. Why do you think launching a coffee brand is the right move for Speaker 1 (4:21) you? Oh man. You know, because it's just really synonymous with my morning. It's really synonymous with how I get up and go. You know, this whole grinding coffee was built off of just being task driven. Speaker 3 (4:38) task Speaker 1 (4:39) driven waking Speaker 3 (4:40) up super early me and pharrell worked super early it Speaker 1 (4:42) was it was actually birthed um so idea was kind of birthed during covid i was staying at his house making it's almost dry and uh watching the joker on repeat yes watch the joke on repeat um but also at the same time um we both get up really early in the morning what time we talking 5 a.m damn Speaker 2 (5:01) type a personalities yeah Speaker 1 (5:02) so 5 a.m and we work extensively through the afternoon. After that, we would go on like a 20 mile bike ride. Jesus Christ. But it was all fueled like first Speaker 3 (5:17) thing in the morning. Speaker 1 (5:17) Strong. You guys aren't, are Speaker 3 (5:19) you on the tandem bike or are you on something? No, no, no, no. Nah. Wait, so you get up and immediately, what are we talking, espresso? Yeah, no, straight Speaker 1 (5:27) espresso shots or just Speaker 3 (5:29) black Speaker 1 (5:29) coffee, whatever, whatever, you know. Speaker 3 (5:31) What's your caffeine intake daily? Just probably a couple cups. I Speaker 1 (5:37) do a couple cups because I don't go past midday simply because it messes with my night. And I go to bed really early. How early are we talking? I'm a nine o'clock person. I'm a nine o'clock person and I wake up in the middle of the night sometime just to see if Kevin called me or sent it. Does anyone need me Speaker 2 (5:54) on demon Speaker 1 (5:55) time? If not, then back to Speaker 2 (5:56) bed. Speaker 3 (5:56) Right. Do you keep a notepad next to your, on the nightstand, like in case you think of a bar? Not at all. Okay. Speaker 2 (6:03) That's not for working. That's for, that's for self me time. Listen, Speaker 1 (6:06) I can't even work late at night. I don't, I don't even know how to work. Like I'm not a midnight studio rat. Speaker 2 (6:12) Is that a development as you've gotten older? Or is that how it's always been? Speaker 1 (6:15) That's how it's always been. That's how I was kind of taught. Working with the Neptunes early. just in my career, our day always started really early. We would like skip school and work. And then like when it got to studios, we would go in a studio and we would, you know, make music until nine, 10 o'clock, grab dinner and then go to the club to see what was going on. I never learned to work past those hours. So I'm really, it's really tough for me to even get in with other producers who work like that. They need Speaker 2 (6:51) to watch the Lego Pharrell movie Speaker 1 (6:52) and understand and learn the schedule by the Speaker 2 (6:54) time. Speaker 3 (6:55) We also get to like, I feel like a lot of artists, they get in there to the studio later and they're just there to party. Yeah. Speaker 1 (7:00) Right? Yeah. That's not productive. No, I'm super efficient. Nothing about a party in the studio to me. It's your Speaker 2 (7:07) job. Speaker 1 (7:08) Yeah. It always has been. Right. Yeah. Speaker 3 (7:12) So is it black coffee? That's what you get if you're at a cafe out? Yeah. And at home, what do you do? Mr. Coffee machine or like a ceramic cone drip? We Speaker 1 (7:21) got the drip. We got the pot. Everything. Okay. Yeah. Speaker 3 (7:26) There's a Speaker 2 (7:26) pun. Speaker 1 (7:27) We're picking it up. Are you Speaker 3 (7:30) an espresso martini guy? Speaker 1 (7:32) Yes. Ooh. Yes. Listen, Grinding has an awesome espresso martini, actually, that we experimented with it initially at one of the LV shows. Okay. And ever since then, man, it's been a staple. People have been asking for it. How lit was that party when everyone Speaker 3 (7:49) was Speaker 1 (7:50) off a beat? Yeah. Listen. Everybody, that party, wait a minute, was that, that might've been the Uno party. Was that the Uno party? That was the Uno party. When people were like playing for like LB Trunks. You guys were locked in. You needed the juice. And Lorraine, Jules, and all type of shit. It was, it was incredible. With Speaker 3 (8:06) Uno? Yeah. Yeah. This was like a big moment. You hit someone with the Reverso? Speaker 2 (8:10) No, listen, I lost. I Speaker 1 (8:11) ain't even, I ain't gonna tell you. Are you Speaker 2 (8:12) a Speaker 1 (8:12) competitive guy? Speaker 2 (8:13) Yeah. Are you competitive? Super competitive. Okay. I mean, you know. Speaker 1 (8:17) Super competitive about everything. Speaker 2 (8:20) Just for research purposes, how many espresso martinis would you say equal one gram of premium fish scale? Speaker 3 (8:27) Just Speaker 1 (8:28) like the effects of it. Yeah, right. No, Speaker 2 (8:30) just curious, you know? Speaker 1 (8:31) Nah, I'm going to say premium fish scale would take you out of here. Okay. It might could take you out of here. Nah. You're Speaker 2 (8:37) inventing new games, not playing Uno. You've come up with a brand new fucking system. Exactly. Speaker 3 (8:42) Did you purposely partner up with Lavazza because it's so easy to use their name in some Speaker 1 (8:47) upcoming bars? Nah, you know what? Actually, man, the Lavazza partnership was kind of built simply because I think they wanted to find a new category. I mean, Lavazza has been around for 130 plus years. Very, very cafe, cafe away the day type of coffee. How Italians do it. When you go to the Speaker 3 (9:13) cafe bar or the espresso bar, you just one euro. Right. So, Speaker 1 (9:18) so when we had, um, so when we had, uh, met with them and just telling them our process and how we use it and how it's more of a functional thing for us and how we get going on our day, you know, the branding of grinding and the grant, the branding of a grinding and just the whole, uh, I guess, brand ethos. Yeah. The mentality. Yeah. Mentality was kind of something that they gravitated to. Speaker 3 (9:42) But like, it would work perfectly in Ace Trumpets, Persona, La Grata, sipping on La Vaza. No? Speaker 2 (9:49) That's a free one you can file away for later. Come on, man. Speaker 3 (9:53) They're also, La Vaza is big in the tennis world. Okay. You're a tennis guy. Yep. Right? Are you going to ask them for some court time with fellow La Vaza brand? partner Yannick Sinner. Yeah, for sure. For Speaker 1 (10:05) sure. I seen, I seen, it was Sinner. Cause we just went to their museum. Lavazza has a museum in Italy. It was Sinner. It was Agassi. And a doll. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So like all goats who were in this, who were in this museum. The Speaker 2 (10:23) one time you had tennis balls for the right sport. Yeah, I believe. Okay. Interesting. Do Speaker 3 (10:27) you think as a tennis enthusiast, do you think you could get a single point off Yannick's center? Never. No chance. Never. You Speaker 1 (10:34) know what? The, the, the thing about it is, um, I was taking, I was taking lessons. I'm like my whole family, meaning like my wife, uh, my, my, um, in-laws, you know, brother-in-laws, everybody, everybody plays. I'm the only one who's not like trained. Okay. Right. So, I mean, the ass kickings are terrible. Oh, sure. But as a competitive Speaker 2 (10:56) guy, Speaker 1 (10:57) you're like, yo, I still got to go out there. You're Speaker 2 (10:59) like, I'll just drop a diss track for you later. No, listen, I still go for it. But Speaker 1 (11:03) like, like everybody's really good. I'm talking about mother, father on down. Oh, Speaker 2 (11:07) wow. Okay. Speaker 1 (11:08) So, yeah, like, like I can't even wait to get back into lessons. What's Speaker 3 (11:13) your game like? Are you a pusher? Or are you like a serving volley guy? Yeah, serving volley guy. Old school, 90s. A tactician. Yeah, yeah, for sure. What rapper do you know, who do you think has the most sus coffee order? That's, you know, getting like extra vanilla syrup, like mad fucking oat milk. Hella foam. Pistachio foam and shit. Speaker 1 (11:35) Oh, man. Speaker 1 (11:38) If I would say somebody who has a, I'm talking about one of those type of orders. White girl style order. Man. Speaker 3 (11:53) Maybe they just like the sweeter things in life. Yeah, true. Speaker 1 (11:56) Yeah, no, listen, it doesn't have to be a bad thing. No. It doesn't have to be a bad thing. Sweet tooth. But if I thought about that, I would go to my younger rappers who, like a Lil Tecca. Okay. Like Lil Tecca probably has that order. He is young. It's energetic. Yeah. And he's got the braces. He's working on Starbucks hates Speaker 2 (12:21) to see him come in, you know, like this sweet candy. Speaker 3 (12:25) Yeah, sure. Exactly. Push. Would you rather for the rest of your life have your hair braided by a white woman or only be able to drink gas station coffee? Speaker 1 (12:35) I would definitely only drink gas station coffee. No one will ever, ever, ever touch my hair other than my braider. Okay. Yamashay. Shout out Yamashay. Is that like Speaker 2 (12:48) the most, your braider is the most consistent person in your life? My Speaker 1 (12:51) braider is famous. Okay. My braider is Allen Iverson. Oh shit. Oh shit. Yeah, this is where it starts. And where it really starts is a whole nother story. Okay. So this is like, We all got this from a street thing. You know what I'm saying? A lot of people died in the mix of this. For braids. Listen, they died and then we paid tribute. So that's what you're seeing is like real history when it comes to her. Lawrence is in the market for getting braids soon. Speaker 3 (13:24) She Speaker 1 (13:25) can get you. Speaker 3 (13:27) Is Speaker 1 (13:27) it per hour or Speaker 2 (13:29) like how does she get paid? Does she have a Speaker 1 (13:31) retainer? Speaker 1 (13:33) Well, you know what? A lot of people who I do business with actually pay her. Speaker 2 (13:37) Okay. Speaker 1 (13:38) Yeah. So like if it's, if it's a company and they need me out here, things like that. It's like, yo. Speaker 2 (13:44) Lavazza cut Speaker 1 (13:44) the check. That's fire. You get to set up, you Speaker 3 (13:45) get to set up your people like that. Oh, Speaker 1 (13:47) come on. Speaker 3 (13:47) Please. What? Every time, Speaker 1 (13:48) man. Speaker 3 (13:49) Yeah. Got to. The hair and makeup. And Speaker 1 (13:51) I, and I still actually go to like her shop. Oh, wow. Speaker 3 (13:54) Which is in like Speaker 1 (13:54) Newport News, Virginia. Yeah. Like it's. In the mix. Does she still treat Speaker 3 (13:59) you like regular people? Oh, yeah, she'll be late. She don't give a damn. Speaker 2 (14:03) Oh, Speaker 1 (14:04) she's Speaker 3 (14:04) on rapper time. She's on Speaker 1 (14:05) rapper time. She'll be late. She don't give a damn. Speaker 2 (14:09) Like Speaker 3 (14:09) what? Terrence Speaker 2 (14:10) again? Whatever. But Speaker 1 (14:11) if Speaker 2 (14:11) you're that good at your job, it's Speaker 1 (14:12) like. Listen, she knows I'm coming. She knows I'm going nowhere else. Right. Speaker 2 (14:15) Respect. She's the push it to you, Brady. For sure. Some might say, yeah. Speaker 3 (14:20) Push, you're a Ferrari super fan. You're in big business with Lovazza. When are you going to move from V.A. Beach to Italia? I'm Speaker 1 (14:26) never leaving Virginia. Yeah? Never leaving Virginia. How often are you Speaker 3 (14:30) in Italy? You're spending a lot of time in Paris, too. Speaker 1 (14:32) Yeah, I spend a lot of time in Paris. Italy, I just went besides the Vatican. Oh, that's right. This is maybe like my third time. Speaker 3 (14:41) Oh, shit. Okay. Speaker 1 (14:42) Yeah. Speaker 3 (14:42) Are you pasta maxing when you're there? Like you getting going crazy on the carbonara? What are you doing? Speaker 1 (14:47) Not even, man. Not even. You know what? You know what I realized? The times that I've had Italian and pasta or whatever, it was a little bit. too probably authentic for me. Oh, Speaker 2 (14:58) really? Yeah. You need some, you're like, I needed an Italian-American style carbonara. I need Speaker 1 (15:03) an Speaker 2 (15:03) Olive Speaker 1 (15:03) Garden style. Speaker 2 (15:04) Are the breadsticks unlimited? What's the deal? Speaker 1 (15:08) No, but yeah, it was a bit, it was a bit too authentic. What was the Vatican like? Man, historic, historic. Speaker 1 (15:19) you know when we went it was i couldn't believe i was there i couldn't believe i was there i was just thinking about the clips i was thinking about the discography i was thinking about where this music really comes from and then yeah you know being on stage and and you know just epic like you know then then thinking about like the song doing birds don't sing in honor of our parents right it was like Speaker 1 (15:43) there couldn't have been a better tribute for me personally. Yeah, no, Speaker 2 (15:46) for sure. Yeah. Does the Pope have a favorite Clips record? He does not. I'm