Pusha T and Lil Wayne were set to be on the sixth installment of Rick Ross‘s “Maybach Music” series. The collaboration was pitched as a ceasefire between two rappers who have spent the better part of a decade trading subliminals back and forth, to the point that Wayne’s protégé, Drake, inherited the beef. The animosity between the two dates back to Pusha’s days in Clipse, the each accusing the other of stealing their style, and sparring over their stylistic influence over hip-hop.
Earlier this week, during an interview with Bootleg Kev & DJ Hed, Ross tried to dispel that there was any bad blood between his frequent collaborators. “Me being on Pusha’s album, me always being on Wayne’s album, me always being on Drake’s album, and me understanding it and looking at it from a real boss perspective. I felt like the differences they had that just came from Wayne being a soldier to his big homie,” Ross said. “Whatever differences Pusha may have had with Stunna. And I felt like Drake was being a soldier to his big homie. So is it really personal? And whatever was said is over with.”
Then Port of Miami 2 was uploaded to streaming services, and the hyped Pusha verse was glaringly absent. Predictably, the lost contribution leaked online in all its poised, calculated, and incendiary glory. It didn’t take long for fans to claim the Virginia rapper was aiming several bars at Drake, continuing their beef, which previously culminated in 2018 with a blackface accusation and baby-revealing blow from Pusha. “Crowns on these clowns it’s like you colored they nose,” Push begins the verse. “We talking skill set or popularity polls / When you speak truth to power your popularity grows.”
In a short call into The Joe Budden Podcast, Pusha shared how he felt about the removal of his verse. “We here to rap, bro. That’s what I’m here for,” he declared. “We all have to do what we do best. I have to do what I do best. The next guy gotta do what he does best. It’s lanes for everybody. It’s part of the game. I can’t complain about it.”
Pusha T Called In On The Joe Budden Podcast To Talk About His Verse On “Maybach Music VI” that didn’t make it on Rick Ross Album POM2 pic.twitter.com/tGFnOoiGmY
— 2CooI2Blog (@2Cool2Bl0g) August 12, 2019
On Friday, Ross discussed with Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning why he decided to scrap Pusha’s verse. “Both verses were cleared from both parties, but like I said, it was more about the bigger picture,” Ross shared. “Is this gonna move them two getting together closer? I’mma take the charge for that. I didn’t feel like this was the time for that. I got the record done. I got Wayne verse first and I got Push verse. I wanted to bring them together, either way, or at least spark that conversation.”
As recently as June, Drake dropped the equally petty “Omertà” on his The Best In The World Pack (the other track on the two-song EP, “Money In The Grave,” featured Ross). During Drake’s verse he claimed that “last year, niggas really feel like they rode on me / last year, niggas got hot ’cause they told on me.” It’s unlikely that either side will let this die quietly.
The cup of endless subliminals runneth over, and the only winner at this point is Rozay.