Things are heating up between OVO Sound and G.O.O.D. Music. Recently, the latter camp dropped Pusha-T’s third album DAYTONA, which notably featured a few shots at Drake. The song “Infrared”, specifically, dragged Drake for his alleged ghostwriting controversy.
In true battle rapper form, though, Drake responded within 24 hours, dropping “Duppy Freestyle” on SoundCloud. The song, which opens with a forlorn sigh, fires back with shots of its own, calling out Pusha-T’s credentials and making a jab at the nature of DAYTONA producer Kanye West’s relationship with Virgil Abloh.
Before we break down the best lyrics from the track, re-visit the song below.
“Must’ve had your infrared wrong, now your head in the beam / Y’all are the spitting image of whatever jealousy breeds”
This line directly addresses King Push’s “Infrared”. Here, Drake fires back with some wordplay referencing not only the beams of the infrared light, but also references Kanye West’s “Ultralight Beam”, which appeared on his 2016 album The Life of Pablo. In essence, Drake is saying Pusha-T missed the mark with his accusations.
“Man, you might’ve sold to college kids for Nike and Mercedes / But you act like you sold drugs for Escobar in the ’80s”
Those familiar with King Push’s lyrics, especially in his Clipse days, will know that his music more often than not touches upon his life in the trap game. Drake’s line tries to take Push down a peg by suggesting that his drug-dealings were amateur fare compared with the grand schemes of notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
“And as for Q, man, I changed his life a couple times / Nigga was at Kroger working double time / Y’all acting like he made the boy when I was trying to help the guy”
This line fires back at the ghostwriting accusations, which arose in a 2015 beef with Meek Mill. The Philly rapper argued that Drake didn’t pen his own bars and Pusha echoed the same sentiments on “Infrared”: “It was written like Nas, but it came from Quentin.” Drake admits that he and songwriter Quentin Miller worked together, but only to bolster the latter’s career with writing credits. Miller recently confirmed the partnership, but corrected Drake, saying he was working at grocery chain Publix, not Kroger.
“Tell ’Ye we got an invoice coming to you / Considering that we just sold another 20 for you”
In line with the ghostwriting call-outs, Drake hints at the fact he contributed to West’s forthcoming album, which is slated to drop June 1. Here he asserts that DAYTONA is likely to sell 20,000 more units because of his response. Shortly after, Pusha tweeted that Drake should send the invoice. Lo and behold, he does, for $100,000.
“I could never have a Virgil in my circle and hold him back ’cause he makes me nervous / I wanna see my brothers flourish to their higher purpose”
This last one is particularly savage, especially for those who are clued-up on Kanye West’s friendship with Virgil Abloh. The OFF-WHITE founder formerly held a position at West’s creative brand DONDA and is now menswear director of Louis Vuitton. The lyric signposts an interview West did with Axel Vervoordt, in which he discussed Abloh’s new position and the “burden” that was placed upon him by Abloh’s departure. Drake hints that West might be envious of his collaborator’s success and is reluctant to let anyone else have their shine.
Are there any lyrics that we’ve missed? Drop us a line in the comments below.
In similar news, here’s a breakdown of Pusha-T’s lyrics on ‘DAYTONA.’
