Until Joaquin Phoenix denied it last week, Pusha T had been claiming that the Hollywood star had produced the opening track on his debut solo album. You wonder why he bothered, given the strength of his production team, among them Pharrell Williams and Kanye West, whose skeletal beat on Numbers on the Boards is one of the year's best. Pusha T had an intermittently brilliant career with hard-edged Virginia rap duo Clipse before going solo three years ago, and his tales of youthful hustling and newfound wealth ("Your plane's missing a chef," he taunts) are compelling, albeit well-worn. The star here is the production.