Pusha T has had one of the most high-profile years of his career yet. The rapper has always been a critical darling and underground favorite, but this year his beef with Drake took him to new-publicity heights. Also, dropping an album like DAYTONA which goes on top every year-end album list doesn't hurt either.
The rapper thus has a lot to reflect on this past year, and he took the time to do that on twitter the other day, alluding to his war of words with Drake. Now, in a new interview with Variety, the rapper speaks directly about his beef with Drake when reflecting on the year.
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When asked about bringing old feelings to the surface on April 2018's "Infrared" record, Pusha says,
"It was always going to be, always going to happen. I was always going to get off. “Infrared” had to happen. We were doing the back-and-forth. He had “Two birds, one stone.” This is what rap is. He is… it is a machine in dealing with him. So we deal. But I had to do things at my own time. You can’t just jump out there. We’ve seen how that works when you just treat it like a street battle. It’s really not. You have to play chess." He confirms right after this that he did purposefully and tactfully instigate the beef with Drake-- "It had to happen on my time."
As for his swift and merciless response to Drake's "Duppy Freestyle," "The Story of Adidon," Pusha says he was prepared to go lengths with Drake.
"I was in it for the long haul … for hip-hop," the Virginia native told Variety. "I thought this was going to be a running thing, back-and-forth. I was sure he’d have a rebuttal. I did what I wanted to do. I only deal in truth, how I see things. When you’re dealing with words, it’s a way of dealing with truth and how the pubic process that, how they interpret that. And what touches them and what touches the person you’re going against. I actually thought we were going to keep on."
Push also discusses DAYTONA and working with Kanye West in the same interview.