The tea is hot and the plot is THICK. Pusha Tea is delivering on his nickname once again. On Monday, I wrote about Drake’s version of the events leading up to best rap beef of summer ‘18 (I’m putting Cardi and Nicki squarely in the fall season). Drake heavily implied that it was Kanye West who told Pusha about Drake’s son, inspiring “The Story of Adidon". He also made Kanye out to be a release-date stealing snake.
Pusha’s side of the story absolves Kanye of at least one of the accusations Drake laid against him. Pusha revealed that it was Drake’s best friend and producer Noah “40” Shebib who was actually his source in an interview on Joe Budden’s podcast (shout out to Vulture for the transcription).
“The information came from 40. It didn’t come from Kanye, at all.”
Finding out that 40 was the one who really leaked that Drake had a secret son – if it’s true—is like that time on Days of Our Lives when Marlena turned out to be the Salem Stalker or every insane twist on Passions. Remember Passions? Anyway, my point is that it’s some soap opera sh-t. You couldn’t script this beef. Drake and Pusha’s mutual petty is turning out to be better for gossip than I could have ever imagined. As great as this twist is, it’s important to note that 40 isn’t a backstabbing mastermind. The difference between 40 and a soap opera villain is that he didn’t knowingly sell out his best friend. According to Pusha Tea, 40 told his girlfriend and SHE is the one who spilled.
“40 is sleeping with a woman, he talks to her daily … Ultimately speaks [to the woman] about how he’s disgruntled about notoriety and certain things involving Drake and his career. With that also came the fact that Drake has a child. With that came the trip that everybody took to go see the child and bring him gifts. She divulged all of this information. That’s where it came from. She knew all of this [including Drake’s scrapped Adidas line named for his son]. I didn’t get it from him or them. That’s all it was. Pillow talking kills everybody. [40’s] probably not gonna admit it to them – he gotta keep that lie face on – but they gonna know. [Drake] knows exactly who this [woman] is. He knows exactly what I’m talking about. He’s going to. I couldn’t live with myself without telling him, without him knowing this. He has to live with this.”
“Pillow talking kills everybody” should be the name of Pusha’s next diss track. Who is this woman? She sounds like the real villain here. I think it’s also important to note that Drake’s son has become a casualty in all of this and that is unfortunate. Imagine Drake’s kid Googling all of this when he becomes a teenager? IF this is true, Drake still comes across as a dude who got played but this time, he got played by his own best friend. It’s a smart play by Pusha. At this point, these two are playing PR chess and while I think Drake still has the upper hand, Pusha is proving himself to be a worthy opponent.
Pusha also addressed Drake’s assertion that it was offside for him to go after Noah “40” Shebib’s battle with multiple sclerosis. Drake says that making fun of 40’s MS was too far. I agree. I also agree with Pusha that it was too far for Drake to make fun of Kid Cudi’s battle with depression. Drake says that it was the 40 disses that stopped him from releasing a response to “The Story of Adidon.” Here’s what Pusha says about that:
“When you said my friend… But your friend is the reason why [I know about Drake’s son]. That’s how it came about. That narrative’s gotta die. Listen, it needs to die. It’s done. That narrative is done.”
The narrative is not done. I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet. In Drake’s interview with LeBron, he said he opted out of answering Pusha because he didn’t want to dignify the song with a response. Right after Drake stood down, J Prince said he was the one who asked Drake not to release the song because it would have been the most devastating diss track of all time. Really? Well, Pusha says Drake was trying to dig up dirt on him and failed.
“We in the car [to Kanye’s album listening party in Wyoming] and get a call from an old friend saying, ‘Someone just hit me up talking about $100,000 for information on you,’” Push says. “That research didn’t come back with nothing. As a matter of fact, they taped the conversations and gave them to me.”
Pusha Tea has RECEIPTS. We knew that Drake couldn’t come up with anything on Pusha, which is why he allegedly set his target on Kanye. Still, he decided to stand down. And Kanye ended up being the one who apologized, further making it look like he was the guilty party. Pusha doesn’t think Kanye should be sorry.
“What are you apologizing for, sir? You didn’t give me anything in regard to aiding in this drama. Nothing.”
So, who’s telling the truth? Like most good drama, I think both parties think they are right. I’m sure Drake still believes that it was Kanye who sold him out and Pusha is just covering his ass. And I think that Pusha did get his information from 40’s “side piece” because why make that up if not? The biggest question left in the Drake vs Pusha T and Kanye beef is the same one since the beginning: who’s winning?
The only person left in Kanye’s corner is Pusha Tea. Drake has LeBron, and if his LA show was any indication, basically the rest of Hollywood (minus the Kardashians). Adele, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Cardi B and Migos were all present at Drake’s show. Have the lines been drawn? Is Drake only winning now by association? What tea will get spilled next? I’ll be over here with my popcorn.
Pusha’s full interview with Joe Budden is below.
