Drake recently joined LeBron James on HBO’s The Shop and shared his perspective on the feud with Pusha-T. During the conversation, the Toronto rapper argued that Push broke the rules when he went after Noah “40” Shebib on “The Story of Adidon,” and talked about 40’s battle with MS.
“People love to say, like rap purists and people who just love confrontation, they love to say, 'Aye there’s no rules in this shit.' But there are fucking rules in this shit," he told LeBron. "And I’m gonna tell you something: It’s like, I knew something was gonna come up about my kid. They had to add the deadbeat thing to make it more appealing, which is fine. I understand that. Even that, I was like, OK. The mom and dad thing, whatever. You don’t even know my family. But I’mma tell you, wishing death on my friend that has MS… I study rap battles for a living. Now when you mention defenseless people who are sick in the hospital, that passed away, that really sent me to a place where I just believed then, and believe now, that there’s just a price that you have to pay for that.”
But Styles P and Dave East disagree. In a recent interview with Hot 97, they attempted to course correct the conversation around rap beef, arguing with conviction that there aren’t and never have been rules. “You can’t expect in any type of warfare, any type, not just rap, ain’t no rules,” Styles says in the video linked up top. “You gotta go into it knowing anything could happen. That’s why your best bet is to not engage. Stay away from beef at all costs.”
Styles goes on to explain how Drake brought the battle upon himself by dropping a diss track immediately after Push released his album and mentioning his wife. “Something else you’re asking him to do is not follow tradition. Pusha-T is not a new rapper, he’s been around for a while. There’s no rules in this. He’s heard it all when he’s heard beef,” Styles continues. “And to Drake you the biggest guy in the game, just chill, there’s nothing wrong with that. It shouldn’t have been a battle.”
When it comes to hip-hop, Styles says stars like Drake should steer clear from shifting the culture in place and making up new rules. “I don’t got nothing against Drake, but how does a guy say what’s the rules in a rap battle that had a ghostwriter before. That’s not fair dog,” he said. “You gotta stay up there. You’re beautiful up there. We love you up there. But don’t come down here and change the rules. That’s wrong because it’s war.”
In addition to Styles comments, East makes some compelling arguments about rap beef as well. You can watch the entire interview above.
