This post has been updated.
Does Pusha T moonlight as a private investigator? Because that would explain a whole lot about “The Story of Adidon,” a brutal dis track he released Tuesday night that escalated his years-long (and recently reignited) beef with Drake.
The track, first heard on New York’s Hot 97, is set to the instrumental of Jay-Z’s “The Story of O.J.” and makes serious allegations about Drake’s personal life. It claims Drake, whose mother is a Jewish Canadian and father is an African American, is “confused” when it comes to embracing his blackness. Pusha brings up Drake’s absentee father and accuses the rapper of similarly abandoning a child named Adonis, who unproved rumors hold is Drake’s secret son with former porn star Sophie B. Pusha even targets the health of Noah “40” Shebib, Drake’s producer, who has multiple sclerosis.
And that’s barely skimming the surface. “The Story of Adidon” — unleashed after Drake mentioned Pusha’s fiancee in this past weekend’s “Duppy Freestyle,” which was itself a response to Pusha resuscitating the Drake ghostwriting drama on his recent album “Daytona” — uses an old (and apparently real) photo of Drake in blackface for cover art.
What ghostwriting drama, you ask? Oh, boy. There’s a lot to unpack, given that Drake and Pusha have been at odds with each other since 2011, which doesn’t even include an older beef between Drake’s mentor, Lil Wayne, and Clipse, a duo consisting of Pusha and his brother, No Malice. But we can do this. It all starts with . . .
Lil Wayne wearing BAPE (2006)
In a 2006 cover photo for Vibe magazine, the rapper wore clothing by BAPE, a Japanese streetwear brand often worn by Clipse and popularized by their frequent producer Pharrell Williams. The rap duo released the Pharrell-produced “Mr. Me Too” that year, which, according to Billboard, accused Lil Wayne of copying the Virginia group’s “style from the shoes to the watches.”
Complex asked Lil Wayne about Clipse’s allegedly claiming they started “BAPE and coke rap” later that year, and Lil Wayne vehemently denied rapping about either subject: “Stop coming at me about that . . . man. That’s how you get beef started man.” (Narrator: He was right.)
Self-proclaimed legend Lil Wayne eventually said Clipse had to do a song with one of Wayne’s Cash Money Records label mates “to get hot.” (Clipse was featured on the song “What Happened to That Boy?” by Baby.) Cash Money Records signed Drake in 2009.
After a few years, we entered an era of . . .
Pusha and Drake periodically insulting each other (2011-2017)
Pusha freestyled in 2011 over the beat of “Dreams Money Can Buy,” a single intended to be on Drake’s sophomore album, “Take Care.” Though Pusha didn’t name a specific target, many have theorized that certain lyrics refer to Drake’s ego: “Rappers on their sophomores, actin’ like they boss lords / Fame such a funny thing for sure.”
The next year, Pusha once again attacked both Drake and Lil Wayne in “Exodus 23:1.” Using words we cannot publish in this family-friendly paper, Pusha (presumably) criticized Drake’s contract with Young Money, Lil Wayne’s imprint under Cash Money Records. Lil Wayne responded with an equally profane tweet.
Drake finally responded in 2013 with “Tuscan Leather,” the first track on his album “Nothing Was the Same.” He warns anyone attacking Lil Wayne — so, Pusha — to stop: “I’m just as famous as my mentor / But that’s still the boss, don’t get sent for / Get hype on the tracks and jump in front of a bullet you wasn’t meant for / ’Cause you don’t really wanna hear me vent more / Hot temper, scary outcome.”
Pusha let that simmer for a few years before responding in 2016 with “H.G.T.V Freestyle,” which is short on the homeowner drama but filled with the aforementioned ghostwriters drama (!!!). The rapper revealed himself to be a ghostwriter truther when he questioned whether Drake actually writes his own lyrics: “It’s too far gone when the realest ain’t real / I walk amongst the clouds so your ceilings ain’t real / These [expletive] Call of Duty ’cause their killings ain’t real / With a questionable pen so the feelin’ ain’t real.”
Let’s break that down. The first line probably refers to Drake’s “So Far Gone,” while “the clouds” recalls the album cover of “Nothing Was the Same.” Pusha challenges Drake’s past claim to being “the realest” by pointing out the irony of his potentially not using his own words. (Again, this has not been proved.)
Drake followed a few weeks later with “Two Birds, One Stone,” which dissed both Pusha and Kid Cudi. (Cudi had criticized Drake’s alleged ghostwriter use as well.) Drake accused Pusha of making up fake stories about dealing drugs: “But really it’s you with all the drug dealer stories / That’s gotta stop, though / You made a couple chops and now you think you Chapo.”
And that brings us to . . .
The current Pusha and Drake debacle (2018)
On Friday, Pusha released his well-received, Kanye West-produced album “Daytona,” which notably uses an image of Whitney Houston’s drug-filled bathroom as cover art. The album’s last track, “Infrared,” revived the ghostwriting theory in the opening verse: “The lyric pennin’ equal the Trumps winnin’ / The bigger question is how the Russians did it / It was written like Nas, but it came from Quentin,” referring to rapper Quentin Miller. Basically, Pusha alleges Russians helped President Trump win the election just like ghostwriters supposedly helped Drake throughout his career.
Nicki Minaj — who previously dated onetime Drake nemesis Meek Mill, a rapper who also accused Drake of using ghostwriters — nevertheless voiced support for her Young Money label mate on Twitter: “Knock it off. Challenging the chosen ones only awakens the sleeping giant.”
Drake couldn’t possibly let Pusha get away with this absurdity, so he immediately responded with “Duppy Freestyle,” which he starts by saying: “I’m in shock. The nerve, the audacity.” He sighs, quite dramatically, and gets on with it.
It appears Drake might have contributed to Kanye’s upcoming album: “What do you really think of the [expletive] that’s makin’ 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 from me/ I pop style for 30 hours, then let him repeat.” (Kanye publicly thanked Drake in 2016 for helping him out on “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1″ and “30 Hours,” both from “The Life of Pablo.”)
Drake also acknowledges that he worked on lyrics with Miller, who was “at Kroger working double time,” to help his career. (Miller clarified on Twitter that he was actually working at Publix, but the sentiment stands.) Drake name-drops Pusha’s fiancee, Virginia Williams, and ends “Duppy Freestyle” by requesting money from Kanye and Pusha for the attention the dis track would bring to “Daytona.” Pusha tweeted that Drake should go ahead and send him an invoice, so, naturally, Drake did.
You’re welcome. 🦉 A post shared by champagnepapi (@champagnepapi) on May 25, 2018 at 6:08pm PDT
And that, readers, brings us to “The Story of Adidon,” which sent pop culture Twitter into even more of a frenzy Tuesday after a crazy day of “Roseanne” drama. Drake has yet to respond but, according to Fader, Pusha went on the radio program “The Breakfast Club” Wednesday morning and said that “all bets are off” because of “Duppy Freestyle” naming Williams. He dragged Drake for the secret baby allegations — “I don’t even hang with my friends who have child support issues; I’m big on kids” — and expressed no regret for the vicious lyrics.
“I definitely didn’t get too far with anything,” Pusha said. “I’m here for the sport of it, but when it gets personal, it gets personal. I’m not censoring myself, but there’s more content if it’s needed later.”
Stay tuned.
Read more:
How celebrity feuds can reveal more about us than about, say, Taylor Swift
Congratulations, you just survived the longest month in rap history
Pusha T’s long path to solo stardom
Image copyright Getty Images
Drake has addressed the controversy of a photo of him appearing to be in blackface.
The Canadian rapper said it was to highlight and raise frustrations about black actors "not always getting a fair chance in the industry".
He said it was taken as part of a project while working as an actor - and not for a clothing brand shoot.
The 2007 photo resurfaced after Pusha T posted it on his Instagram, along with a track taking aim at Drake.
On his Instagram story, the God's Plan rapper said: "The photos represented how African Americans were once wrongfully portrayed in entertainment."
He said the photo was from a project that was about "young black actors struggling to get roles, being stereotyped and type cast".
Previous reports suggested the photos were from a clothing brand shoot but Drake insisted this was wrong.
Image copyright Drake/ Instagram
Drake said he and his best friend at the time, actor Mazin Elsadig, were "attempting to use our voice to bring awareness to the issues we dealt with all the time as black actors in auditions".
Pusha T has used the photo to promote The Story of Adidon - the latest in a line of diss tracks between the two rappers.
He was responding to Drake's track Duppy Freestyle, which was released on Friday.
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Pusha T and Drake’s feud has been, for the most part, unremarkable. Pusha has previously been more occupied with Lil Wayne, while Drake has had high profile fights or indirect skirmishes with everyone from Meek Mill to Kendrick Lamar.
However, thanks to the release of Pusha’s new album, Daytona, the feud between Pusha and Drake has reached an all new intensity, both artists releasing diss tracks aimed squarely at each other. But where did their feud begin? Let’s take a brief look at their history of beef.
2006: Clipse versus Lil Wayne
Pusha has feuded with Lil Wayne since 2002, but the first public diss came on the track “Mr. Me Too.” At the time, Pusha was still performing with Clipse, a group composed of himself and his brother No Malice.
The duo were wearing lots of BAPE clothing at the time and when Wayne dressed in BAPE attire on the front cover of Vibe magazine they claimed the rapper copied their style. On “Mr. Me Too,” featuring Pharell, they rapped: ”Wanna know the time? Better clock us / N****s bite the style from the shoes to the watches.”
Wayne responded during an interview with Complex later that year, telling the publication: “You talking to the best. Talk to me like you’re talking to the best. I don’t see no fuckin’ Clipse. Come on man.”
2011: Pusha releases “Don’t Fuck With Me”
How does Lil Wayne and Pusha T fighting over who wore BAPE first relate to Drake? That Wayne beef was, ultimately, a little deeper than a fight over a clothing brand, the pair sparring with each other over the years on various tracks.
So, when Drake joined Wayne’s label Young Money Entertainment the rapper became fair game for Pusha, who first went after Drake on the track “Don’t Fuck with Me,” a song that samples Drake’s own “Dreams Money Can Buy” (which itself samples Jai Paul).
“Rappers on their sophomores / Actin’ like they boss lords / Fame such a funny thing for sure / When n****s start believing all them encores,“ Pusha rapped, alluding to Drake, who released his second album, Take Care, later that year.
2012: “Exodus 23:1”
To clear up any confusion over who the lines were directed at, Pusha released the track “Exodus 23:1,” taking aim at Drake’s difficult contract with Young Money Entertainment, itself an imprint of Cash Money Records.
“Contract all fucked up / I guess that means you all fucked up / You signed to one n***a that signed to another n***a / That’s signed to three n***as / Now that’s bad luck,” he rapped.
Unimpressed by the track, Wayne wrote on Twitter: “Fuk Pusha T and anybody that love em.”
Fuk pusha t and anybody that love em — Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) 24 May 2012
2013: Drake fires back
The following year – after Pusha took another pot shot at Lil Wayne on the track “Your Favourite Rapper” – Drake decided to stand up for himself and his mentor, rapping “Bench players talkin’ like starters / I hate it” on the track “Tuscan Leather” from the album Nothing Was The Same.
Drake also rapped: “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: Pusha releases “H.G.T.V”
And then came “H.G.T.V”, featuring the hardest hitting verses from Pusha at that time. Referencing Drake’s first album, So Far Gone, and questioning his reported use of ghostwriters – a topic that has been widely mentioned by those who take issue with Drake – Pusha rapped: “It’s too far gone when the realest ain’t real / I walk amongst the clouds so your ceilings ain’t real / These n***as Call of Duty ‘cause their killings ain’t real / With a questionable pen so the feelin’ ain’t real.”
2017: Drake responds with “Two Birds, One Stone”
Drake responded on the More Life track ”Two Birds, One Stone”, calling out Pusha for talking about drug dealing in songs. “But really it’s you with all the drug dealer stories / That’s gotta stop, though / You made a couple chops and now you think you Chapo... You middle-man in this shit, boy you was never them guys / I can tell, ’cause I look most of you dead in your eyes / And you’ll be tryna sell that story for the rest of your lives.”
2018: All hell breaks loose
Pusha released Daytona to critical acclaim and, although just seven tracks long, the rapper manages another dig at his long-standing rival.
On the track “Infrared”, Pusha compares the way Drake became popular to the way Donald Trump became president, pointing out how both allegedly used external measures: Drake uses a ghostwriter named Quentin Miller while Trump has alleged ties to Russia under investigation.
Pusha raps: “The lyric pennin’ equal the Trumps winnin’ / The bigger question is how the Russians did it / It was written like Nas but it came from Quentin”.
Many were expecting the Canadian to respond on his upcoming album, Scorpion, due later this year. However, Drake had other plans. Less than 24 hours after Daytona reached streaming services and Drake releases the song “Duppy Freestyle”, which opens with him sighing in exasperation.
“I had a microphone of yours but then the signature faded / I think that pretty much resembles what has been happening lately,” was one of the many notable lines from Drake, the rapper having genuinely once owned a microphone with Pusha’s signature.
Drake talks about being a Pusha T fan and buy his autographed microphone pic.twitter.com/8BQzu0WRFW — HipHopShoops (@HipHopShoops) 18 December 2015
Drake also took aim at Kanye West, the producer of “Infrared,” making references to two songs from Kanye’s album The Life of Pablo, “Father Stretch My Hands” and “30 Hours" and the work Drake has apparently done on Ye's new album.
“What do you really think of the n***a that’s making your beats? / I’ve done things for him I thought he never would need / Father had to stretch his hands out and get it from me / I pop style for 30 hours, then let him repeat,” he raps. Drake concludes the song by asking Pusha for an invoice for the extra publicity, posting said invoice online soon after.
Drake sent G.O.O.D. Music an invoice for all the album sales he just helped Pusha out with... this man is cold pic.twitter.com/mgdETsZOSV — No Jumper (@nojumper) 26 May 2018
Following the invoice, a few moments silence. How was Pusha going to respond? Turns out, Push was not merely sitting around doing nothing, but concocting the most vicious track against Drake yet: “The Story of Adinon”.
First off, there’s the artwork: an image of Drake apparently wearing blackface from an old photoshoot. While the artist who took the photo, David Leyes, has said he’s “proud to be part of a strong statement made by a black man about the fucked up culture he is living in,” many have seen the image as offensive.
Then there’s the lyrics. Pusha seemingly confirms the long-standing rumours that Drake has a secret child with former adult film star Sophie Brussaux. Not only that, but Pusha talks about Drake’s own troubled upbringing without a father and calls Drake a “deadbeat mothafucka”.
“Adonis is your son / And he deserves more than an Adidas press run, that’s real / Love that baby, respect that girl / Forget she’s a pornstar, let her be your world,” he raps.
With the fans still shaking following the song’s release, many are wondering how Drake will respond to this very personal salvo. Whatever happens next, the world waits on bated breath for a response from one of the most successful, loved and loathed artists of our time.
AnsweredWhat is the conflict between Drake and Pusha T about?
What is the conflict between Drake and Pusha T about?
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