Pusha T Keeps Pushing Drake

7.7.20

@kingpush

Last New Music Friday, we were blessed with Pop Smoke’s posthumous album, Shoot for the Stars Aim For the Moon. Though the album contained plenty of dope features, one was missing. Steven Victor, Pop Smoke’s manager mentioned there was a track which included Young Thug, Gunna and Pusha T. He mentioned it should have been on the album. It needed some final touches, then we would hear. News has erupted, what those final touches were.

So much music has been getting leaked over the course of coronavirus. Including tons from Drake, which is a funny coincidence we will get into shortly. It seems like a snippet from Pusha T’s original verse had leaked, stirring up quite a bit of drama. Young Thug took to his Instagram to share that he does not respect the verse that King Push did on this track. Gunna shared this post, to say he feels the same.

The verse that got everybody mad, goes something like this:

You know reality bites, it's chess, not checkers
Those empty threats only sound good on your records
If the patois is not followed by a Blocka
It’s like Marked for Death Screwface, without the choppa
Let ’em rush the stage when you made like Sinatra
Only to hide the blade flyin’ back through LaGuardia
I might even buy a home out in Mississauga

Though everyone recording around him found subtle, hypothetical bars at the time, we all now know exactly what this means. Pusha T and Drake have had a very extensive beef over the past few years. Pusha called out Drake for hiding his son, and Drake has said some mean things as well. Back in 2018, a fan crashed the stage at one of Pusha T’s concerts in Toronto, threw a beer bottle, and put him in danger during his performance. King Push suspected Drake may have provoked the incident in some way, which is referenced here in this verse when mentioning rushing the stage.

You may listen to Pusha T's verse from the song here.

Though it is undeniable that the verse is about Drake, Pusha T has nothing to hide. Responding to Thug’s message, Pusha T shared several notes on Instagram stories of his own. He shared that he does not need Thug’s acceptance or approval to know what he brings to the table as an artist, and he also asks Pop’s manager to remove him from the song once it drops, in order to not take away commentary to the beautiful body of work.

There is nothing negative you can say about these two messages. Push should not seek approval for anyone for his own self. Sure, you can learn from others and decide when you are wrong, but that is up to them as a human. If he thought it was a dope verse, that is all that should matter to him. Mind you, the verse was dope. It is not like Push would actually do anything to harm Drake. It would harm his career, and the rap beef keeping him relevant would be over. Not good for business.

If the song were to drop, asking for removal, it makes sense. Commotion about the verse would spiral, and people’s attention would all migrate to this one scenario. It is Pop Smoke’s album, and he is not here to witness its success. This is about him, the drama can wait.

But the most interesting thing to mention here, is that it appears King Push is calling out Drake for being the reason why anyone knows what this verse is about. Push states no one knew what the verse was about, until “HE” told the label. “He” we can imagine is Drake, as he continues to say that he did the same thing on Push’s Rick Ross Maybach 6 verse. This lead to feuds between all the artists involved, including Lil Wayne who was featured on the track.

Basically, Push is calling Drake an industry snitch. I am not sure why it needs to be held up because Drake found out it was about him. Could have just made another Back to Back. He talked quite highly about recording that song on his Rap Radar interview, so I do not see the need to halt anything that is purely music, if this is true.

I feel that Thug and Gunna made the decision to speak out on it, so that they could keep Drake’s good gracious on their sides. Not a bad business move on their end. Though it reminds me of them running away from fake gunshots at a video shoot.

Whichever way you choose to look at it, I really wanted to hear this song. We’ll have to see what happens, if someone gets removed, or perhaps redo their verse. We basically have to hear it now. I am sure it will come out, one way or another.