After a very heated exchange, Drake and Pusha-T's feud has turned into hip-hop's Cold War with the pair sending subliminal shots at each other. This leaves fans sifting through metaphors, bars, and double entendres to see if either artist is inching closer to pushing the red button.
On Monday, Drizzy dusted off his U.K. drill flow for a freestyle with London's Headie One. As Genius pointed out, there are a few lines when Drake jumps into a pocket that could be aimed directly at Push and his associates.
"Don't make me have to rise my rifle/Man try send some young boys for me, don't make me have to ride by high school," Drake raps. "Shit you man been dropping lately, don't make me have to fly my iTunes/So much people buy into my hype, don't make me have to buy my hype too/Dealt with the big homie already, don't make me have to side-by-side you/Nuff times he tried to hide behind you/Amnesia but when I remind you/Word to the M-O-B I'm tied to/I'm giving up when I decide to, gee."
Like any good sneak diss, there are several ways these bars could be interpreted. Drake openly admitted that songs like "Mob Ties" and "I'm Upset" were sparked by the anger he felt following his exchange with Push. In "I'm Upset," Drake hints at Pusha-T and G.O.O.D. Music putting a $50,000 reward out for people in the industry to come forward with information on him. This could add context to the line where Drake says "Man try send some young boys for me, don't make me have to ride by high school" as there may have been hungry, up-and-coming artists looking to take him down to align themselves with G.O.O.D. Music.
Also, an unreleased version of Pop Smoke's "Paranoia" caused a commotion recently. In this version, Pusha-T takes aim at Drake with a string of subliminal shots. After Young Thug denounced his and Gunna's involvement in the creation of this verse, Push took to Instagram where he insinuated that Drake pulled strings to get stop the song from coming out. Knowing this, it seems very likely that the line "Shit you man been dropping lately, don't make me have to fly my iTunes" was Drake boasting about the chain of events.
Additionally, the lines about dealing with the "big homie" and reminding them how potent he is gives the impression that Drake is once again setting his sights on Pusha-T and Kanye West. He caps off this verse by letting it be known that he's in full control of his actions. Although the Rap-A-Lot Godfather, J. Prince, urged him not to directly answer Push, Drake alludes to the respect he has for Prince but says he won't quit until he's tired of winning.
"Word to the M-O-B I'm tied to," he raps. "I'm giving up when I decide to, gee."
Outside of these slights at Pusha-T, fans seemed to enjoy Drake's mini hot streak. Drizzy dropped back-to-back threes when he released "POPSTAR" and "Greece" with DJ Khaled. He then set up the perfect lob pass with the assist he gave Headie One. In doing this, Drake showed he's not just a one-dimensional scorer, proving once again that he can beat you from anywhere on the floor.
