Revisiting Drake and Pusha T’s Beef 5 Years Later
Graphic by Jonah Weintraub
By: Noah Weinberg
Rarely does a feud between two artists ever involve a genre's most famous figure, yet five years ago, Pusha T antagonized Drake into one of hip-hop’s greatest beefs to date. The rap titans had sent subliminal attacks to one another since 2011, but this beef really started to sizzle in 2018. On Pusha T’s critically acclaimed album DAYTONA, the Virginia rapper called out Drake on the song “Infrared:”
“How could you ever right these wrongs when you don't even write your songs?
Drake didn’t take too kindly to these ghostwriter claims, a rumor that’s consistently swirled over the Toronto native’s head like a thunderous cloud. On the same day as DAYTONA’s release, Drake dropped “Duppy Freestyle,” a 3-minute-plus long barrage that targeted Pusha and Kanye West, DAYTONA’s executive producer. Over a silky saxophone instrumental, the 6 God questioned the validity of Pusha T’s drug-dealing origins while name-dropping his fiance. Drake also turned to Kanye, whose open use of writers (including Drake himself) clearly struck a nerve:
“Father had to stretch his hands out and get it from me / I pop style for 30 hours then let him repeat / Now you poppin' up with the jokes, I'm dead, I'm asleep.”
In congruence with the spite and pettiness he’s known for, Drake concluded “Duppy Freestyle,” estimating that DAYTONA would sell an additional 20,000 units from the publicity his diss provided. Within minutes of “Duppy’s” release, Pusha hopped to Twitter and responded by saying, “Send the invoice for the extra 20….”
Being one of rap’s most philanthropic members, Drizzy was eager to lend a helping hand to a less affluent rapper. So he posted a $100,000 invoice to Instagram addressed to Kanye and Pusha T’s G.O.O.D Music label for "promotional assistance and career reviving." Pusha took objection to Drake’s social media ploy and retaliated three days later with one of the biggest bombshells in hip-hop history.
“The Story of Adidon” murdered whatever street credibility Drake had left. Over Jay-Z's exquisitely divine “The Story of OJ” instrumental, Pusha T viciously dissected all aspects of Drake’s being. In a “heart-to-heart about pride,” Push mercilessly insinuated that Drake’s well-established relationship issues with women stem from his parents' marital problems. Next, Push tied those family difficulties together in an insult toward Drake’s insecurities about being biracial or not being “black enough.” “The Story of Adidon’s” artwork visually complimented that insult, showing a real picture of a 2007 Drake in blackface. Then, in what might be the most scathing set of bars in rap history, Pusha T revealed to the world that Drake had a secret child with a french pornstar:
“Since you name-dropped my fiancée / Let 'em know who you chose as your Beyoncé / Sophie knows better as your baby mother / Cleaned her up for IG, but the stench is on her / A baby's involved, it's deeper than rap / We talkin' character, let me keep with the facts / You are hiding a child, let that boy come home / Deadbeat mothafucka playin' border patrol, ooh”
This sort of TMZ-level breaking news does not commonly occur in hip-hop, but Pusha T wasn’t finished unleashing Drake’s secrets with the world. He then claimed that Drake planned to reveal his son Adonis to the public at the launch of his rumored Adidas line. In the song’s conclusion, Pusha delivered a bar that, in retrospect, is definitely a step over the line:
“OVO 40, hunched over like he 80—tick, tick, tick / How much time he got? That man is sick, sick, sick”
This portion refers to Noah “40” Shebib, Drake’s in-house producer, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an incurable disease that leads to the loss of communication between neurons, often resulting in bad posture. It’s a low blow to diss the disabled, but Pusha T threw caution to the wind on his most savage song.
Looking back, the Drake-Pusha T saga was one of the most entertaining events in recent rap history. This beef had everything a fan could ask for: drama, love, lust, intrigue, gossip, and, most importantly – incredible rapping. In what’s likely the largest stain of Drake’s career, Champagne Papi decided not to retaliate to “The Story of Adidon.” Instead, he released his 5x platinum-selling album Scorpion a month later. Eventually, Kanye and Drake settled their differences with a joint concert at the LA Colosseum in late 2021. However, Pusha T and Drake have yet to bury the hatchet. Pusha T clearly won this battle, as in addition to the ruthless song itself, his career only surged in popularity going forward. Since the beef, Push received multiple Grammy nominations for DAYTONA and its follow-up It’s Almost Dry. While Drake and Pusha T likely aren’t going to reconcile, we do have the pair to thank for the most jaw-dropping feud in hip-hop history.