Sometimes the hip-hop game features some interesting chess moves. When it comes to the Pusha T and the Drake debacle, there were strategic plays some never saw coming.
In a feature with Rolling Stone, several producers involved in Drake’s fifth album Scorpion shared how the rapper’s most telling record (“March 14”) might’ve been the source to Pusha T’s scathing diss track, “The Story Of Adidon.”
“I’m assuming [Drake] called the record ‘March 14′ ’cause that’s when he did the record,” co-producer T-Minus said. He explained how the beat making process was an open field in January 2018, but the song itself was virtually kept a secret from everyone–except Kanye West.
Malik Yusef, who worked with Kanye in Wyoming for West’s Ye project says Drake played Kanye early versions of his album back in March. “You gotta be careful how you move, I think,” he said. “Not I think, I know: You gotta be careful how you move, what you say to people, what gets out, and the whole nine [yards].”
The world knows what happened next. Drake’s personal life became the talk of the town on “The Story Of Adidon.” His presumed clothing line and reveal of his son was no longer his narrative and Pusha T managed to get festival kids to scream “F**k Drake.”
“It was something private; it was supposed to be kept secure,” Minus said. “The information got out and I’m assuming that’s how Push knew [about the child].”
This was obvious to most rap fans, including Joe Budden who shared his theory on The Joe Budden Podcast this week.
“I think that Drake probably let Kanye hear a good amount of what he was working on because that’s what artists do,” he said. “I think that this is while his June date is announced. He never said June-what, he always just said ‘June,'” Joe began. “I think he then left Kanye, and I think when he went back to Kanye, there was a whole bunch of people around. I think when he went back to Kanye, Kanye had his whole June rollout planned.”
The rapper-media personality also gave hints on how Kanye may have built his whole G.O.O.D. Music rollout around Drake’s big moment. It also seemed to be feeling boiled up on the rapper’s diss track, “Duppy Freestyle.”
“I think that everything Kanye has done in the past month with that bulls**t was totally centered around whatever information he got from Drake before he departed,” Budden shared. “I think when Drake left the second time, that’s when a diss record came out — Drake’s ‘Duppy Freestyle.'”
The ‘what if’s’ will continue to brew but Drake’s reign hasn’t slowed down. His album has already reached platinum status with several of the songs charting on the Billboard Hot 100.
The rapper also took a page out of Kanye’s remastering book by quietly altering tracks. Redditors MrRom92 and Jrmio posted on r/HipHopHeads how “In My Feelings,” “Emotionless,” “Ratchet Happy Birthday” and “Blue Tint” all feature slight sonic changes.
With Pusha still on a high from his Daytona release and Drake scoring plenty of chart success, it seems like Kanye may have been the odd man out.
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