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
Drake is trending on twitter right now because Pusha T released a diss track revealing that Drake allegedly has a son. Also I’ve been seeing tweets about Drake doing blackface, what is this in reference to?
Did Pusha go too far? Or did Drake invite the ire when he mentioned Pusha’s fiancée first? The Atlantic’s Hannah Giorgis, Taylor Hosking, Spencer Kornhaber, and Vann R. Newkirk II discuss the rappers’ barbed exchanges and the state of the diss track as an art form.
Hannah Giorgis: I’ll be honest, I don’t live for rap beef. But I was unreasonably excited about this. It’s summer! What’s more fun than watching two highly paid professionals completely unrelated to me be petty with one another? It’s got all the intrigue of the Mean Girls burn book, but with gritty production.
Taylor Hosking: I was also excited about this, mostly because I think Drake’s last high-profile beef—with Meek Mill—was a disappointment. When Drake released his diss track “Back to Back” in 2015, Meek’s response, “Wanna Know,” didn’t even try to bring the same energy or catchiness his discography would suggest he’s capable of. (I was living in Philly at the time so I had to hear “Back to Back” blaring from car radios all summer in Meek’s home city—it was sad stuff.) In his newest beef, Drake came in with too much confidence. And I was glad to see Pusha respond to him in a serious way—although I’m sure we’ll get into whether it got too serious.
Spencer Kornhaber: I’m loving the carnage, and hating myself for it. You’ve got to be amped up by the timing, at least: The cruelest rap fight in years coincides with the climax of a long-running debate over whether art needs to be ethical. Can we still enjoy Kanye if he’s a MAGA troll? Does Roseanne need to be erased because of the racism of its star? And now: Am I going to hell because “The Story of Adidon” left me with the same endorphins buzz as a three-mile sprint?
Pusha’s song is vile, for sure. But transgression is a kind of innovation, and hip-hop’s annals of beef include a lot of vital music precisely because evil can be fun. There are rules to a duel, but is this a duel or a brawl? Drake, ever the A-student, showed the right way to fight in public, with “Duppy Freestyle” systematically and stylishly addressing the charges against him and returning shots on the subject of his rival’s prowess as a rapper. I was impressed. By the book, Drake seemed like he’d won. But Pusha wanted to play a different game, and in “The Story of Adidon,” he announced a rule change at the top: “Drug dealin’ aside / ghostwritin’ aside.” Ghostwritin’ aside? Wasn’t that the whole point? No—Drake’s worth as a human being was now to be in the crosshairs, with a woman, a kid, and a music producer with multiple sclerosis as collateral damage.
Giorgis: I love Drake just as much as the next mimosa-drinking, Fenty Beauty–obsessed girl he knows to pander to, and yet it was immensely satisfying to watch Champagne Papi be taken down a peg. He’s been overdue for a proper admonishment, and Pusha definitely gave it to him. But you’re right, Spencer, the ethics of this feel murky at best.
US rapper Drake has been accused of snubbing fans at an after party at a Melbourne nightclub.
DRAKE has hit back after a photo was released online of the rapper in blackface.
In the latest escalation of their rap beef, Pusha T released a dis track called The Story Of Adidon which featured the 2007 image of Drake on its cover.
In the song, Pusha T mocked Drake’s producer who has multiple sclerosis and accused the rapper of having a secret love child with a porn star.
Please stop referring to this picture as “artwork”...I’m not an internet baby, I don’t edit images...this is a REAL picture...these are his truths, see for yourself https://t.co/gd6vRS3HM8 pic.twitter.com/2el58HEZ8F — King Push (@PUSHA_T) May 30, 2018
Pusha T tweeted that the photo of Drake in blackface was genuine and had been taken by photographer David Leyes.
Soon fans were questioning whether the image was taken as part of a 2008 photoshoot for clothing line Too Black Guys, which was themed “Jim Crow Couture”, Billboard reported.
Drake then addressed the controversy on Instagram, explaining that the photo was “not from a clothing brand shoot or my music career”.
“This was not from a clothing brand shoot or my music career. This picture is from 2007, a time in my life where I was an actor and I was working on a project that was about young black actors struggling to get roles, being stereotyped and type cast,” he wrote.
“The photos represented how African-Americans were once wrongfully portrayed in entertainment.”
The feud dates back to 2006, when Drake’s mentor Lil Wayne wore clothing in a magazine shoot usually worn by Pusha T’s hip hop duo Clipse, the New York Post reports.
Since then Drake and Pusha T have exchanged multiple barbs in their song, with Drake releasing dis track Duppy Freestyle last week.
