Pusha-T tells Young Thug he doesn't need his respect, fans remind Thug about Drake-Meek Mill beef
In Pop Smoke’s posthumous first album ‘Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon’ that came out last Friday, a lot of guest artists appeared. But the album that has been receiving rave reviews has also been a point of controversy. Especially one particular track that did not even make it to the album. The song in question is "Paranoia" that features rappers Pusha-T, Young Thug, and Gunna. And the lyrics of the track have led to a beef between Pusha-T and Young Thug. After several fans pointed out that some lines in the song are a continued attack on Drake -- the Canadian R&B and hip-hop and Pusha T have a long, complicated history -- Young Thug addressed the lyrics.
On an Instagram story, Young Thug said he doesn't “respect” Pusha-T's verse on a recently-surfaced track. “I don't respect the Pusha-T verse on the song with me and Gunna cause I don't have nun to do with y'all beef nor does Gunna," Young Thug wrote, adding that if he had known the lyrics were “about him” for being a longtime collaborator Drake, he would have made changes prior to completion.
Gunna also reposted Young Thug’s story.
Pusha-T, in the song, supposedly references a 2018 incident in which multiple people rushed the stage during his show in Toronto. He also mentioned Mississauga, a Canadian city in the Ontario province that neighbors Toronto, as well as Drake's song-based adoptions of different accents. The offending lines reportedly are: “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 blocka/It's like marked for death Screwface, without the choppa/Let 'em rush the stage when you made like Sinatra,” and “Only to find the blade, flyin' back through LaGuardia/I might even buy a home out in Mississauga.”
Pusha-T responded shortly after that on Instagram as well. He said that “HE TOLD” the label what the verse was about, “the same way HE TOLD about the Ross ‘Maybach 6’ verse,” a Pusha-T verse from last year taken off a song because it also dissed Drake. You can guess who “HE” is. In subsequent posts, Pusha-T reminded Young Thug: “You were the last verse added to the song and that’s ONLY because I requested YOU!!”
Pusha-T further added, “I WOULD NEVER look or need YOUR respect for what is it I bring to this rap game!!” Following that, he tagged Steve Victor, the A&R exec who put the album together, to “demand you take me off the deluxe @realpopsmoke album to avoid any confusion that may take away from This amazing body of work!” Fans on either side of the beef have been heavily involved. So much so that Drake, Pusha-T, and Young Thug began trending on Twitter on Tuesday, July 7. On one side, a fan wrote, “Imma keep it two vigils with yall, Young Thug has brought more influence to hip hop than Pusha-T.”
Another wrote, “Pusha T has been obsessed with Lil Wayne and Drake since 2011, and every time he’s about to drop an album, he disses them. Is that not weird to y’all? The only time you talk about Pusha is when he’s talking about Drake.”
On the other side, there were arguments like, “Y’all loved every second of Drake dragging Meek for years but now Pusha got Drake on the hot seat with no end in sight and y’all copping pleas about how it’s old and tired and needs to stop. If that’s y’all king let him stand on his own two and stop b****ing about Pusha.” In fact, the anti-Drake side seemed to possess a louder voice. A fan wrote about the beef, “Lmaooo Drake called label heads and told them Pusha was being a meanie to him. Now I see why yall love him so much. You see yourself in s*** that he does.”
Many echoed the same. A Twitter user wrote, “I like Drake and Pusha T. But I also remember Drake took a damn near year-long CM Punk victory lap after the Meek Mill battle, and that was fine.” A fan noted, “Gonna talk about it in a bit but nah Pusha T did nothing wrong IMO. I think Young Thug is more upset that it’s about Drake (his boy) than it being on Pops album.”