Looking back at Lil Wayne’s long feud with Pusha T: “Come on, man”
Let’s be honest, hip hop artists are amongst the pettiest people on the planet. Whilst their feuds may have roots in more sinister realms such as gang related activities or, on the musical side of things, theft of intellectual property, they also can arise from simpler acts which are interpreted as disrespect. Someone who is well acquainted with sparring with a fellow artist is Lil Wayne.
Such is Weezy’s propensity for jawing off at others in the industry, Hot New Hip Hop thought crafted an entire article which analysed the biggest beefs of his career. Apparently it would have been too grand of a task to fit all of them into one article.
Whilst some of Wayne’s beefs are down to personality differences, questions over the quality of their work or creativity being shackled by other artists, as was the case with Birdman, there is one beef which is down to the simple issue of style.
In 2006, the NOLA rapper was pictured on the front cover of Vibe magazine wearing the Japanese clothing brand A Bathing Ape, commonly known as BAPE. He would further display the brand in his music video for ‘Hustler Musik’. It’s unclear if this was intentionally aggressive, but apparently it was enough to cause some conflict.
Pusha T, his brother Malice, along with Pharrell, their long-time friend, pioneered BAPE amongst hip hop artists. Lil Wayne wearing the brand on more than one occasion was taken as an offence of him “biting their style”. In response, Clipse, the moniker adopted by Pusha T and Malice when performing together, dropped a diss track titled “Mr. Me Too”. It was the most successful track on their 2006 album Hell Hath No Fury.
In an interview with Complex, after being probed about the beef Wayne said, “Talk to me like you’re talking to the best. I don’t see no fuckin’ Clipse. Come on, man. Weezy, man. They had to do a song with us to get hot, B.” Wayne makes no claim to wearing the brand first. Instead insisting that when Clipse and Pharrell wore the brand, the general reception was that it was “weird”, in contrast to when the Young Money Entertainment rapper wore it, it was perceived as “hot”. Of course, the beef wasn’t settled after that. Pusha T dissed Wayne again on the two Clipse tracks, ‘Re-Up Gang Intro’ and “Open Your Eyes.”
After Wayne’s incarceration in 2010, the squabbles of the style biting seemed to be put aside when Pusha T voiced his support for Wayne. Despite this, the Bronx rapper couldn’t help himself and came back for more with some bars on his 2012 track ‘Exodus 23:1’. His thirst for beef (as weird as that might sound) meant that not only was Weezy on the receiving end, but Drake as well.
Following the release of the track Wayne tweeted “Fuk pusha t and anybody that love em.” and dropped a diss track on the same day titled “Ghoulish”. In what would seem like a fitting end to a senseless feud, Push responded by calling it “weak”.
Was all of this necessary? Absolutely not. Did we get some good music out of it? 100%. Far be it from me to be in the know about what motivations hip hop artists have about picking their battles. But if we continue to get the content we love out of it, I’ll sign any petition which allows them to be as petty as possible.