Drake – “Duppy Freestyle”
“I’m in shock,” Drake says. “The nerve. The audacity.” Apparently he heard Pusha-T’s not-so-subliminal insults on Daytona today: “The lyrics penning equal to Trump’s winning / The bigger question is how the Russians did it / It was written like Nas but it came from Quentin.”
The lyrics, from Daytona closer “Infrared,” are a reference to Drake employing rapper Quentin Miller as a ghostwriter on some tracks circa 2015, including his contribution to Meek Mill’s “R.I.C.O.” When Meek found out, he was so disgusted that he set in motion a beef that derailed his career. Drake has decided to respond to Pusha even more ruthlessly than he dispatched Meek.
On the new “Duppy Freestyle,” Drake unloads on the former Clipse MC for three minutes straight. First, he points out the hypocrisy of Pusha bringing up Quentin Miller when Push’s entire album was produced by Kanye West, a guy who’s known to cobble together his verses with a roomful of collaborators. Drizzy even alludes to several songs he himself helped Kanye write, including “Father Stretch My Hands,” “Pop Style,” and “30 Hours.” Take it away, Aubrey:
So if you rebuke me for working with someone else on a couple of V’s/ What do you really think of the nigga that’s making your beats?/ I’ve done things for him that I thought he never would need/ Father had to stretch his hands out and get it from me/ I popped style for 30 hours then let him repeat
But wait! There’s more on that subject:
Please believe your demise will be televised/ And as for Q, man, I changed his life a couple times/ Nigga was at Kroger working double time/ Y’all act like he made the boy when I was trying to help the guy/ Man, who gassed you to play with me/ Man, you made this shit as easy as ABC’s/ Whoever’s supposedly making me hits but ain’t got no hits/ Sound like they need me
Drake also goes after the drug kingpin persona Pusha built his name on, suggesting he severely inflated the scope of his experience in the game and that he mostly bases his raps on stories he’s heard from relatives: “Man, you might have sold to college kids for Mike and Mercedes/ But you act like you sold drugs for Escobar in the ’80s.” He also goes after another Kanye and Pusha ally, the fashion designer Virgil Abloh, rapping, “I could never have a Virgil in my circle and hold him back ’cause he makes me nervous.”
It’s a pretty thorough dressing down, and you can hear it below.
Drake’s new album, presumably titled Scorpion, is out next month.
UPDATE: On Instagram, Drake posted an invoice for $100,000 addressed to G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam for “Promotional assistance and career reviving.” It’s unclear whether OVO Sound actually sent the invoice.
Also, Miller helpfully clarified that he used to work at Publix, not Kroger.
It was a publix actually…#crshdfilesvol2 out now https://t.co/3JAVld7nBl pic.twitter.com/iBovb1d8Dq
— Q.M. (@Quentin__Miller) May 25, 2018
UPDATE: Nicki Minaj has since spoken in support of Drake on Twitter
Niggaz gon run that Quentin shit in the fkn ground like Drake don’t write 4 himself & OTHERS! Ya enemies will remix, reinvent & TRY 2make u RELIVE some old shit for YEARS 2 come when they have NOTHING ON U! Knock it off. Challenging the chosen ones only awakens the sleeping giant
— Chun-Li (@NICKIMINAJ) May 27, 2018
