For a lot of younger fans, they know Pusha T for his diss tracks. The most infamous is “The Story Of Adidon“, a scathing character takedown of hip-hop’s biggest artist at the time, Drake. From there, the Virginia rap legend became synonymous with beef. He would be unafraid of dismantling those who don’t hold the same values as him. Lil Wayne, Drake, Kanye West, and most recently, Travis Scott, have faced the brunt of Push’s wrath.
However, nowadays, the same rapper who had smoke for anyone in the industry is now decidedly burnt out by beef and diss records. Consequently, he claims he’s done indulging in them. Recently, Pusha T spoke to Consequence, where he shrugged about how diss records don’t mean the same as they used to. Back in the day, you could end someone’s career with a mean enough song. Now, he argues that it’s only good for feeding online discourse.
“It’s not the same ransom anymore. Back in the day, to me, I felt like it could be career ending. Now it’s not — it doesn’t hold as much weight. You still get another shot at it, it seems like,” Push sighs.
Pusha T Hates the State of Modern Diss Tracks
“I’ve kind of been through that chapter and I’m over it. I’m somewhere right now where I don’t even want to make music with other people, nevertheless [have] anybody else in my music or be the focus of my music. What we’re doing right here [with Clipse] is, to me, so next level,” Pusha T continues. “I feel like the taste level is above everything else. Even being caught up in the world of it — I don’t like even the world of the people, of the back and forth — if I don’t see eye to eye with you, there’s probably things I don’t want to be there about, you know what I’m saying?”
Ultimately, at the end of the day, Pusha T finds all of this kind of useless if there are no stakes to a conflict. Moreover, there’s no catharsis in really ending someone because the “noise” still persists. As a result, he’d much rather keep making music with his brother and mind his business.
“It’s kind of dead to me. It’s the ransom of what a diss track used to bring: There was a clear winner. Somebody would really bow out and then that’s it — the last man standing. Now it’s just a whole bunch of noise. Even after we find winners, it’s still noise. And it’s like, man, then what’s it for?” Pusha T shrugs.
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