It’s truly a mystery why at this point, anyone goes after Drake. There has always been a lot of hate surrounding the Toronto star, but each and every time another artist has attempted to take him down with whether it be a diss track or a series of salty tweets, Drake has come out the other end of the fight unscathed while the instigator lies bleeding and forgotten in a ditch.
Yesterday, we discussed at length the lyrical prowess and sociopolitical strength of Pusha T’s new project DAYTONA. But we also mentioned that a number of traits – whether they be the lack of any particular standout track, the poor timing that will leave it inevitably overshadowed by Rocky’s Testing, or the fact that thanks to a recent series of what we’ll call boldpublic displays by Kanye West – something will ultimately lead to the project’s less-than stellar performance.
What we failed to see so quickly and apprehensively spiral out of control was Pusha’s negative comments on Drake, and the subsequent battle that would ensue. Only hours after DAYTONA’s release, Drake responded with a freestyle of his own addressing Pusha’s hate on the track, Infrared.
The diss track in response, titled Duppy Freestyle, has amassed more than two-and-a-half million streams on SoundCloud since it was first published by OVO’s official page just five hours ago. But it goes deeper than numbers. In a bout that undermines Pusha T’s musical ability, Kanye’s current public standing and handling of his relationship with fashion designer Virgil Abloh, and a consistent stream of further insults throughout the track’s length, Drake decisively and successfully unmakes a number of cases for Push and DAYTONA.
After all, if so much of Pusha T’s draw is reliant solely on his ability to rap with ferocity and unmatched lyricism, how is it that Drake seems to have so swiftly dismantled a diss track months in the making with a freestyled response five hours post?
Though we assumed this was existing common knowledge, it should be noted that it’s in the best interest of hip-hop artists to avoid taking unnecessary shots at Drake moving forward. Now, with the release of DAYTONA behind us and this conflict already obscuring its vision, the project will forever owe much of its success – most of which is bound to come from Infrared – to Drake.