Drake vs. Pusha T: One Year Later.
A year ago, I was at a work retreat. I had little access to the internet in this remote location. In the middle of a wooded area, reception came and went faster than any of us could really catch it. One of the small flashes of reception that the got throughout the entire sordid affair left me with a large number of text messages, telling me to listen to Drake's "Duppy Freestyle". Days later, I listened to Pusha T's "The Story of Adidon". That same summer, I dropped two articles detailing my thoughts on the entire beef, in A RatedR View: Drake vs. Pusha T and Scorpion Isn't About Pusha T. With more than a year that has passed since the beginning of the surgical summer, thoughts of a winner keep weighing on my mind.
My first thoughts revolve around the extremes that Pusha T went in his attempt to win the battle. He exposed the picture of Drake in black face, used the sample of Jay-Z's "Story of O.J" and exposed Drake's love child with an adult movie star. All of those things should've buried Drake's career and ended the stranglehold that the Toronto-born artist had on the rap game!
Right?
See the strangest move that Drake did is to be quiet. Reports surfaced that there was a bounty out for Pusha T information and that there was apparently an entire song made as a response to "The Story of Adidon" but neither of those came to fruition. Instead, we saw Scorpion. A double-album that would cater to the Hip-Hop and R&B world in a joint effort with a star studded lineup that included the aforementioned Jay Z, Michael Jackson and Ty Dolla Sign. Subliminal shots were taken at Kanye West, but there were no real responses to the initial fight which was with Pusha T. The album went on to be nominated for Album of the Year at the 2019 Grammy Awards, with "God's Plan" being nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and won Best Rap Song. Additionally, "Nice for What" was nominated for Best Rap Performance.
What has become the legacy of this feud is in the public memory. Today, Drake is still one of the highest selling artists in the world. While 2019 has been relatively quiet in the music scene, he has been on tour with many artists in Europe, all while becoming one of the biggest Toronto Raptors fans during their playoff run. He's kept his name and good face. All the while, Pusha T has been returned to irrelevance to the eyes of many in the mainstream. The insiders have kept tabs on what he's been doing, notably on features for people such as KIDS SEE GHOSTS "Feel the Love" and Royce da 5'9's "Summer on Lock".
Was it worth it?
In retrospect, I believe that Pusha T won the battle but lost the war. The reasoning is simple - Drake decided to not play with someone who doesn't respect the rules of engagement, the rules of the game. I've learned something from my own experiences and the story of Hip-Hop: do not insult those who cannot reply, at an equal level. Therefore, do not dare to attack the children, the mothers or the deceased, for the consequence is quite possibly the end of a career. Troy Ave saw it when he dissed Joey Badass's friend, Capital STEEZ, for committing suicide at the age of 19. Cam'ron saw the same reality when he insulted Nas by saying that he would assault his daughter, just like Robert Kelly, the child sexual predator. Keep their names out of it, as the sport is still something with honor.
If Pusha had attacked Drake as a man, while disregarding those elements of his life and attacked him singularly, the outcome might've been wildly different, but we will never know that for sure.