Right now, everyone in the rap world is captivated by Pusha-T and Drake’s back-and-forth. The feud, which has found its way even to outlets that wouldn’t know a rap beef from Kobe beef, has captivated fans and media, has somehow roped in Kanye West’s charity, Kim Kardashian, Whitney Houston’s family, adult film stars, and even secret children.
This whole situation was kicked off by Pusha slipping in a diss of Drake for collaborating with other songwriters on “Infrared.” It continued through Drizzy’s lightning-fast clapback, which drew Kanye West into the mix by pointing out that Drake had written songs for Yeezy. Then Pusha fired back with “The Story of Adidon,” which brought things to an entirely new level. The whole thing shows no signs of letting up anytime soon.
But the antagonism between Push-a-ton and the Cash Money camp dates back over a decade, and the conflict’s roots lie even further in the past. Below, a timeline of important moments in the Pusha-T/Drake battle.
Right now, everyone in the rap world is captivated by Pusha-T and Drake’s back-and-forth. The feud, which has found its way even to outlets that wouldn’t know a rap beef from Kobe beef, has captivated fans and media, has somehow roped in Kanye West’s charity, Kim Kardashian, Whitney Houston’s family, adult film stars, and even secret children.
This whole situation was kicked off by Pusha slipping in a diss of Drake for collaborating with other songwriters on “Infrared.” It continued through Drizzy’s lightning-fast clapback, which drew Kanye West into the mix by pointing out that Drake had written songs for Yeezy. Then Pusha fired back with “The Story of Adidon,” which brought things to an entirely new level. The whole thing shows no signs of letting up anytime soon.
But the antagonism between Push-a-ton and the Cash Money camp dates back over a decade, and the conflict’s roots lie even further in the past. Below, a timeline of important moments in the Pusha-T/Drake battle.
Early 2000s: Enter Bape
Sometime in either 2000 or 2001, Jacob the Jeweler tells his client Pharrell that there is a Japanese guy who is inspired by the producer’s jewels. That leads to Skateboard P meeting Nigo, the founder of the clothing line Bape. Pharrell becomes one of the first prominent people in the U.S. to wear the then-new brand, and Nigo then uses his relationship with Pharrell to reach out to Clipse.
“I just started getting boxes of clothes at my house in 2002 because Nigo was a fan of a record called ‘Grindin,’” Pusha told Vibe. “Some kids he didn’t know from Virgina making 100% dopeboy music—he just liked it. I didn’t know him. He didn’t know me.”
November, 2002: What Happened to That Check?
Birdman’s debut solo album is released. It contains the track “What Happened To That Boy,” which features Clipse and is produced by the Neptunes. According to Hot 97’s Ebro Darden, there are rumors that Pharrell and Chad were never properly compensated for the beat, and that this is the real genesis of tension between them and the Cash Money crew.
Winter/Spring, 2006: The Story Begins
Early in 2006, Lil Wayne releases a video for “Hustler Musik.” In it, he’s rocking a Bape hoodie. That April, Weezy F. Baby again wears Bape on the cover of Vibe. The Thornton brothers take note.
May, 2006: Mr. You Too
Just a few months after the Vibe cover, Clipse release a single called “Mr. Me Too” that accuses unnamed people of copying their style. It doesn’t take a mind reader to figure out who the track is probably aimed at. “Wanna know the time? Better clock us,” Malice raps. “Niggas bite the style from the shoes to the watches.”
December, 2006: 'I Don’t See No Fuckin’ Clipse'
Lil Wayne gives an interview to Complex for their December 2006/January 2007 issue where he responds to claims made by Clipse and their fans that he’s copying both the Virginia duo’s sartorial choices and their cocaine-centric subject matter.
“Talk to me like you’re talking to the best,” he says. “I don’t see no fuckin’ Clipse… They had to do a song with us to get hot.”
Weezy is equally dismissive of claims that he copied Pharrell.
“Who the fuck is Pharrell? Do you really respect him?” Wayne asks. “That nigga wore Bapes and y’all thought he was weird. I wore it and y’all thought it was hot.”
July, 2007: 'If You Wobble Dee Wobble Dee, You Can’t Be a Legend'
Pusha and Malice fire back at Wayne in a Laced magazine cover story that July. “You can't try to rap like Jay-Z, dress like the Clipse, become a coke dealer after five albums, and now dress like Jim Jones. You can't do all that and be a legend,” they say. “If you wobble dee wobble dee, you can’t be a legend.”
February, 2008: '...But His Metaphors Boring'
On the intro to Clipse’s new mixtape We Got It 4 Cheap, Vol. 3, Pusha takes shots at Wayne and Birdman.
“Sorry, but I don't respect who you applauding
Little nigga flow, but his metaphors boring
Don't make me turn daddy's little girl to orphan
That would mean I'd have to kill Baby like abortion”
May, 2010: 'Tell Hova, Don’t Pass the Crown Too Soon'
On the Clipse/Jeezy collaboration “Ill’in,” there was a particular line that made a lot of people take note. “Tell Hova, don’t pass the crown too soon,” rapped Pusha. Since Wayne had made a career out of attempting to come for Jay Z’s throne, and Jay himself had pronounced Wayne his “heir” not long before, this was widely interpreted as a dig at Wayne.
March, 2011: An Olive Branch
In March of 2010, Wayne begins serving an eight-month jail sentence for criminal posession of a weapon. Shortly after it ends, Pusha releases “Open Your Eyes.” At the very end, he celebrates his antagonist’s freedom. “They done freed Weezy. Congratulations,” he says.
May, 2011: Drake Lets It Fly
Drake’s first direct entry into the fray of any note comes just a few months later, on “Dreams Money Can Buy.” On it, he says, “My favorite rappers either lost it or ain’t alive.” As a teen, Drizzy was a self-described “really, really big Clipse fan,” so it seemed pretty clear who he thought had “lost it.”
September, 2011: The Return Volley
Pusha, never one to let a subliminal go unanswered, responds to Drake by taking the “Dreams Money Can Buy” beat and unleashing a song he called, appropriately, “Don’t Fuck With Me.” “Rappers on they sophomores, acting like they boss lords...The talk don’t match the leather, the swag don’t match the sweaters.”
December, 2011: An Un-Common Response
At the exact same time Drake and Common were exchanging words, Pusha borrows the beat from Common’s “Sweet”—a song thought to take shots at Drizzy—for a freestyle. Some thought that Pusha’s lines dissing people who sing like a hummingbird were aimed at a certain popular rapper with an ear for melody.
May 24, 2012: The Exodus Begins
After several months without a major move, Pusha decides to go for the jugular. He releases “Exodus 23:1,” which contains his most direct dig at Drake thus far, poking fun at the younger rapper’s complicated business arrangements. The song opens:
“Contract all fucked up
I guess that means you all fucked up
You signed to one nigga that signed to another nigga
That's signed to three niggas, now that's bad luck”
Lil Wayne responds almost instantaneously on Twitter, saying, “Fuk pusha t and anybody that love em.”
May 25, 2012: YMCMBack At Ya
The following day, Young Money hits back at Pusha on two sides. Wayne releases the diss track “Goulish.” And at his concert in D.C. that night, Drake responds too, criticizing Pusha for his move from Pharrell’s Star Trak to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music camp: “If you was doing sixteens when I was 16/And your shit flopped and you switched teams/Don't talk to me.”
July, 2012: 'This Song Is a Direct Response'
On the Kanye collaboration “New God Flow,” Pusha drops a line aimed at Birdman. “Claim they five stars but sell you dreams,” he spits. “They say death multiplies in threes/Line them all up, and let’s just see.”
King Push copped to the “five star” line being about Baby. “I was very angry,” he told Genius. “This song is a direct response to Birdman—he said, ‘Kanye is alright but what are the rest of them doing?’ Who is this guy to speak on the dynamics of G.O.O.D. Music? We have got to be real when people talk out of line.”
September, 2013: Tuscan Leather
The opening track of Drake’s new album Nothing Was the Same, “Tuscan Leather,” contains several lines that are widely considered to be return shots at Pusha, including one about “bench players acting like starters.”
December, 2015: Puff Daddy Interlude
In December, 2014, Diddy reportedly hit Drake while they were at Club LIV in Miami Beach. A year later, Pusha released “Crutches, Crosses, Caskets,” where he name-drops Puff at the end of verse one, and just happens to end the following verse with a line mocking “young niggas” for getting slapped by “old niggas.” Push denied he was talking about the Diddy/Drake incident, but no one, least of all Drake’s associates, believed him.
October 12, 2016: H.G.T.V. Gets a Whole New Meaning
Pusha’s track “H.G.T.V.” seemed to many to contain subliminals towards Drake about his pen game and over-reliance on singing. The evidence? Well, he used Drizzy’s album title. “It’s too far gone when the realest ain’t real/...With a questionable pen so the feeling ain’t real.” Push also refers to antagonists “beefing over melodies.”
October 23, 2016: Two Birds, One Diss Track
During an episode of OVO Sound Radio, Drake debuts several songs from his upcoming project More Life. Among them was “Two Birds, One Stone.” In the track, he goes in on an unnamed-but-easy-to-figure-out rapper with “drug dealer stories” who he says was, in reality, only a “middle man.”
December, 2016: 'It Ain’t Real If It’s About Me'
With all the buzz around “Two Birds, One Stone,” Complex reaches out to Pusha to get his take. He shrugs off the implication that his drug dealing tales were exaggerated. “My past is cemented,” he says. “My past happened… I’m telling you, the real of it is: It ain’t real if it’s about me.”
May 24, 2018: First Reports of a Revival
As reports start trickling in about the listening party for Pusha’s new album DAYTONA, listeners notice that one song on the project, “Infrared,” contains shots at Drake for relying on Quentin Miller to pen some of his material.
May 25, 2018: Drake Claps Back
With lightning speed, Drake responds to the slight with “Duppy Freestyle.” The track takes aim at Pusha, as well as Kanye West. Drizzy says that the attention will help Pusha’s album sell: “Tell ’Ye we gotta invoice coming to you/ Considering that we just sold another 20 for you.”
Pusha jokingly responds on Twitter, asking Drake to go ahead and “send the invoice.”
May 26, 2018: The Invoice
Sure enough, Drake takes the “send the invoice” invitation literally, sending G.O.O.D. Music a $100,000 bill for “Promotional assistance and career reviving.”
May 29, 2018: 'Adonis Is Your Son'
This Tuesday night, after days of speculation, Pusha finally gave us an answer to “Duppy Freestyle.” Even the cover art of “The Story of Adidon” is vicious. Push somehow dug up a portrait, by photographer David Leyes, of Drake in blackface.
And the song itself is just as pointed, attacking Drake’s parents and friends. But the biggest takeaway is that Pusha claims Drake has a son with adult film actress Sophie Brussaux:
Sophie knows better, ask 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
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 porn star, let her be your world
October 12, 2018: Drake Finally Discusses "The Story of Adidon"
On his June 2018 album Scorpion, Drake admitted to the world that he had a son. He also gave extended details about his relationship with his son's mother on the album closer, "March 14." After Scorpion dropped, in spite of Pusha's Herculean to throw him off, the beef between the two seemed to fizzle out. Leave it to Drake to cook things back up again.
On October 12, Drake's friend in fame, LeBron James, aired the second episode of his HBO show The Shop. Drake appeared on the program and declared to the world that he initially played "March 14" for Kanye West during a trip to Ye's creative base, Wyoming. Then, Drake says, Kanye took the info back to Pusha, who used it against him. "I'm in Wyoming, I play him 'March 14,'" Drake said, referencing the Scorpion closer he shared with West during Ye sessions at Jackson Hole. "I send him a picture of my son. I tell him I'm having trouble with my son's mother. We had a conversation."
Drake also said he was hurt by the lengths that Pusha went to in the diss, speaking specifically about his ill treatment of his long-time producer, Noah "40" Shebib. "I'mma tell you, wishing death on my friend that has MS," he began. "I study rap battles for a living. Now when you mention defenseless people who are sick in the hospital, that passed away, that really sent me to a place where I just believed then, and believe now, that there's just a price that you have to pay for that. It's over. You're gonna get… someone's gonna fucking punch you in the fucking face."
October 17, 2018: Pusha-T Points a Finger at 40
Mere days after Drake shouted from the rooftops that Pusha's creative leader, Kanye West, was dabbling in scumbag-like behavior and leaked the information about Drake's son, King Push clapped back. Appearing on The Joe Budden Podcast with Rory & Mal, Pusha spoke out about where he actually obtained the top-secret-son information he used as ammo on "Story of Adidon."
"The information came from 40," the G.O.O.D. Music president said. "It didn't come from Kanye, at all. 40 is sleeping with a woman, who begins to... he talks to her daily. Five, six hours a day... And ultimately speaks about how he's disgruntled about certain things, notoriety and things involving Drake and his career, and so on and so forth. With that also came the fact that Drake has a child. With that also came the trip that everybody took to go see the child, and bring him gifts, and all this information. She divulged this information. That's where it came from."