A Complete History Of The Pusha T vs. Drake Beef
Drake has been the name on everyone's lips lately, from dropping his new track 'I'm Upset' from his upcoming album 'Scorpion' to, of course, the beef with Pusha T. The drama came blazing into the public eye on Monday when Pusha T's highly anticipated album 'DAYTONA' released with the song 'Infrared' that fired shots at Drizzy, and Drake responded with 'Duppy Freestyle' and then Pusha brought it back with 'The Story of Adidon'. It's been a wild ride for Drake and Pusha T fans, so let's take a look at how this all began.
2006
It started in 2006. Lil Wayne was huge ('Make It Rain On Em' was released this year) and Clipse (rap duo Pusha T and No Malice) had just released their album 'Hell Hath No Fury'. What happened was all kinds of ridiculous - Clipse cracked it when they saw Lil Wayne rocking a BAPE hoodie, a Japanese brand they thought they had dibs on because they'd sported it first. In 'Mr. Mr Too', Clipse dissed Wayne. He reflected on the incident to Complex, saying “That n*gga [Pharrell] wore BAPE and y’all thought he was weird. I wore it and y’all thought it was hot. C’mon man. C’mon now.”
Image from Pinterest.com
2010
Fast forward to 2010, where Clipse and Lil Wayne had cooled off (to be fair, Wayne was in jail for weapon possession), and Drake is super into Clipse. He said that he bought a microphone for $200 off eBay that was signed by Pusha T - that's the level of fan we're talking about.
2011
In 2011, Pusha T taunted a rapper that fans assumed was Drake with his lines in 'Don't Fuck With Me'; “sophomores, actin’ like they boss lords”, “swag don’t match the sweaters.” Drake is well-known for his love for sweaters and was working on 'Take Care', his sophomore project at the time. Pusha denied that it was about Drake, and Drake didn't take offence. However, he said in a radio interview that “I’ve never had an issue with him. But, you know, it’s a frustrating time for a lot of people right now — I get it. So if it was directed at me, just make it a little more direct next time.”
2012
In 2012, Pusha dropped 'Exodus 23:1' where he pretty intensely called out Drizzy in “Contract all fucked up I guess that means you all fucked-up / You signed to one n*gga that signed to another n*gga / That’s signed to three n*ggas, now that’s bad luck.” This is referring to Drake being signed to Young Money, which is under Cash Money, part of Universal Records.
Lil Wayne is also under these companies and tweeted.
Fuk pusha t and anybody that love em
— Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) May 24, 2012
His response track 'Ghoulish' attacks Pusha with the lines “His head up his ass, I’mma have to head-butt him” and later on "Fuck Pusha T". Pusha T said the song “was horrible. It was trash. It was not good.”
2013
In 2013, Pusha shot again at Lil Wayne with “How real is he if he been paying for his blood ties? / He blood in, he blood out at a blood drive”, and Drake stands up for him with “I’m just as famous as my mentor / But that’s still the boss, don’t get sent for / Get hype on tracks and jump in front of a bullet you wasn’t meant for.”
2016
Let's get more recent and talk about 2016, when Pusha T became the president of G.O.O.D Music and collaborated with JAY-Z. Lil Wayne won a Grammy that year and Drake had well and truly made it into the mainstream rap game. Pusha T decided that Lil Wayne was too small a fish to fry, and Drake was his endgame.
Pusha T dropped the lines in H.G.T.V Freestyle "It’s too far gone when the realest ain’t real / I walk amongst the clouds so your ceilings ain’t real / These n*ggas Call of Duty ’cause their killings ain’t real / With a questionable pen so the feelin’ ain’t real.” This is referencing Drake's scandals of having a ghostwriter.
2018
Through bits and pieces of alleged lines and Twitter shots, we arrive to May 2018, where Pusha T dropped 'Infrared' where he spits about Drake "Your hooks did it/The lyrics pennin’ equals to Trump’s winnin’/The bigger question is how the Russians did it/It was written like Nas but it came from Quentin".
Drake fought back with “Duppy Freestyle,“Tell ’Ye we got an invoice comin’ to you/Considering we just sold another 20 for you..You’re not even top 5, as far as your label talent goes...I could never have a Virgil in my circle and hold him back, ‘cause he makes me nervous/…You n*ggas leeches and serpents” as well as "If you rebuke me for working with someone else on a couple of V’s, what do you really think of the nigga that’s making your beats?/I’ve done things for him, I thought that he never would need/Father had to stretch his hands out and get it for me.”
This seething track calls out Kanye for not writing his own stuff, which is true considering Drake is a credited writer on 'The Life of Pablo'. Drake also uses the track to call out the signed microphone he bought all those years ago, says Pusha acts like he "sold drugs for Escobar in the ’80s” and mentions his finacée by name in “I told you keep playin' with my name and I'ma let it ring on you / Like Virginia Williams”. He also actually did invoice G.O.O.D Music.
Now, at the end of May, Pusha T dropped 'The Story of Adidon' where he responds to Drake’s line “You’re not that good of a drug dealer” with “You’re not that good of a father," sending fans into a frenzy wondering if Drizzy actually does have a kid. There are of course rumours about Drake's child with adult film star Sophie Brussaux. Pusha was not subtle in the slightest and used a picture of Drake in blackface for the songs cover. Pusha also covered the topics of Drake being left by his father and even rips on Drake's producer's battle with multiple sclerosis. The song landed the night before World MS Day.
Pusha also dropped the line “Adonis is your son, and he deserves more than an Adidas press run,” which was a move that may ruin the upcoming adidas/Drake reveal after it's been rumoured that Drake has left the Jordan Brand for adidas.
Pusha T has said to complex that this beef is “a real estate issue. I feel like I was light. [‘Infrared’] was light and it spoke to something that was old, people know what it is... I do feel like his issue is a real estate issue. He was dropping his album in June. ‘Ye comes out of nowhere, ‘Hey, I’m dropping five in June.’ But I feel like the real estate got a little weird for him. I’m just gonna be all the way honest with you, and not even on no funny, no nothing. I’m sure [Drake] is gonna put out an album that does numbers, so on and so forth. Great. But it’s not gonna be better than 'DAYTONA'.”