On hip-hop’s ceaselessly shapeshifting board of loyalty and legacy, Pusha-T flipped the board, and Travis Scott’s name was all over the mess. Clipse's co-founder didn’t simply rap on “So Be It,” the new fire track from Clipse’s impending Let God Sort Em Out (July 11); he did some receipt-dropping. And, boy, do they hit as hard as a ton of designer bricks.
Director Zada focused on the rapper’s lyrics and message over the years of near-diss tracks that many have released in response to whatever they considered suffering at the hands of Drizzy (more on Pusha’s beef in a minute). Bringing the focus back to Scott, Pusha thoroughly addressed what he claims to have been years of keeping-it-under-the-rug disrespect, fake moves, and an ultra-awkward Louis Vuitton listening session. Pusha has had it! If you believed “So Be It” was a lyrical jab, think again, but a full-blown callout.
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“You scream in my face, it played, made my day / You won’t beat me in a court of law, my n####, you failed / You won’t be makin’ no memes after what I see / All the lies on the plaque, the facts would come to see / You won’t be makin’ no memes, you won’t be makin’ no memes / You won’t be makin’ no memes after what I see,” goes one particularly aggressive verse targeting the 21-time Grammy winner. It’s surgical and cold, but what do fans expect when they hear Pusha sharpening the pen?
In a GQ interview on June 17, Pusha said that the final straw was listening to an early iteration of “Meltdown” played for Pharrell and Clipse without Drake’s verse. This eventually became the one verse on Utopia … and a diss of Pharrell. That’s a no-fly zone in Pusha’s universe.
“That was really just like to me … he’s a w####. He’s a w####,” Pusha said, here in his typical blunt manner.
In an excerpt of a forthcoming New York Times Popcast episode, he only doubled down: “He’s shameless … and corny. You never should have been here. Him specifically, too.”
It’s evident that in Pusha’s eyes, this was not simply a one-time slip-up. He depicted a broader pattern of Scott jumping ships, snuggling up to whoever’s hot, and burning bridges without batting an eye.
“He has no picks. He’ll do this with anybody. He did it with ‘Sicko Mode,’” Pusha pointed out, referring to the 2018 blockbuster collaboration where Scott linked up with Drake and fired thinly-veiled broadsides at Kanye, whom Scott once considered a mentor.
More surprisingly, Pusha still has footage of Travis breaking down in tears. On the track, he raps:
“The net gonna call it the way that they see it / But I got the video, I can A.E. it / They wouldn’t believe it, but I can’t unsee it / Thank God I ain’t T-MZ it.”
So, what’s next? With Let God Sort Em Out looming on the horizon, one thing is sure: Pusha’s not pulling any punches, and he’s not waiting for the internet to spin his tale. But Travis might want to circle his wagons and verify who holds the camera.
If nothing else, Pusha’s message is suddenly loud, clear, and grievously unhinged: loyalty is timeless, not some fad, and there are some things you cannot walk back.
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