Pusha T sat down with “Hot Ones” and fielded questions from host Sean Evans on all things music, business, and fish sandwiches.
The rapper spoke about the nature of rap beef, which he claims is now “corporate.” Pusha himself made headlines earlier this week for his new diss track, which is an ad for Arby’s. That’s right – Arby’s.
Pusha’s relationship with Arby’s goes back to 2018. He contributed to the “We Have the Meats” campaign and reportedly gets paid every time the commercial airs.
Arby’s “Spicy Fish Diss” sandwich has beef (or fish?) with Mcdonald’s iconic Filet-O-Fish sandwich. The nightmarish scenario plays out in the company’s new commercial that went live on Monday (March 21). And yes, it has a cocaine reference.
“Filet-o-Fish is shit/And you should be disgusted,” raps Pusha. The super-hot-fire bars are juxtaposed with a shot of a bear gobbling a fish in slow-motion. “How dare you sell a square fish asking us to trust it/A half slice of cheese, Mickey D’s on a budget?”
King Push has cemented his legendary status in both rap and fast food. He co-wrote the infamous McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle in 2003. The jingle is still in heavy rotation in commercials and is synonymous with the iconic “M” logo. Unfortunately, Pusha does not get royalties from the track despite it being the longest-running marketing campaign in McDonald’s history.
The track was written in collaboration with Pharrell Williams and Justin Timberlake. Timberlake was just 22 at the time and copped a cool $6 million for his contribution to the song. He was dating a 21-year-old Britney Spears, who received $10 million from her Pepsi contract two years earlier.
Pusha is no stranger to beef. In 2017, he released “The Story of Adidon” revealing that Drake had a son. A response diss-track was not released by Drake, signifying Push’s victory to many.
Rap “beef” has been around since the inception of the genre. While it has led to many deaths, it has also become one of the primary promotional-vehicles used in music. Most recently, Lil Durk and NBA Youngboy used beef to promote their albums. The rappers both have eight kids a piece and reference similar topics of family and “the trenches” in their music.
The rift between the two began with billboards in select cities displaying subliminal messages. To Pusha’s point, many have called out that corporate dollars had to have been used to pay for all of the advertising. It later started an Instagram trend of cash being spelled out to read menacing phrases.
The beef then manifested through references in music to ante up the albums. Lil Durk’s album 7220 debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart this month and used his diss track “Ahhh Ha” as the leading single. Similarly, NBA Youngboy used his diss track “I Hate Youngboy” as the lead single for his project. The 20-song-album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in January. Both singles have over 20 million views on Youtube.