After Drake unveiled the tracklist for his new album, For All the Dogs, it appeared that the opener “Virginia Beach” would be a diss aimed at longtime rival Pusha T. That turned out not to be the case. Instead, Drake appeared to use a skit on “Calling for You” to poke fun at the Virginia Beach-raised rapper. He also seems to reference a 2018 incident on another song called “Fear of Heights.” Stream both tracks below.
On “Calling for You,” there’s an interlude in which a woman complains about having to sit in economy class. “Yo, he lied to me. Like I didn’t give a fuck that we sat in economy, I gave a fuck ’cause he said the economy was full,” she says. “He said, ‘There was no first class, so we’re sitting in economy.’”
The skit is likely a reference to a tweet that Pusha directed at American Airlines earlier this week, in which he vented about being seated in coach after paying for a first class seat. “Damn @AmericanAir if you didn’t have a first class seat, why would you let the agent book it?” the Clipse member wrote. “To charge me for first class and only offer coach is terrible. #PovertyAirlines”
Then, Drake mentions “Virginia” on “Fear of Heights,” which could either be a reference to Pusha’s wife or the rapper’s home state. “Virginia, I pull up and chill,” he raps. “You know you can’t come where I stay/ ‘Fore you get caught on a date/ ‘Fore you get put on a plate.”
On the latter lines, Drake could be alluding to an incident at the height of their beef in 2018, when Pusha was attacked on stage while performing in Toronto and accused Drake of orchestrating the incident.
Earlier that year, Pusha responded to Drake’s previous jabs on “Two Birds, One Stone” by referencing Drake’s alleged ghostwriter on the DAYTONA cut “Infrared.” After Drake fired back with his “Duppy Freestyle” diss that pulled Kanye West into the mix, Pusha went scorched earth on “The Story of Adidon” and revealed that Drake was hiding a child.
In a December 2019 interview with Rap Radar, Drake admitted to taking his “first loss in the competitive sport of rapping,” but balked at the idea of ever patching things up with Pusha T, leading us to these latest jabs.
And one day before dropping For All the Dogs, Drake hinted that he would be going at familiar rivals on the single “8AM in Charlotte,” which features thinly veiled shots at West. However, the album could be the last we hear of Drake for a while. In an interview with SiriusXM’s Table for One, he said he would be taking a hiatus due to “crazy stomach problems.”
Drake will close out his “It’s All a Blur” tour” this weekend with a pair of hometown shows in Toronto. Grab your tickets here.
Damn @AmericanAir if you didn’t have a first class seat, why would you let the agent book it? To charge me for first class and only offer coach is terrible. #PovertyAirlines
— King Push (@PUSHA_T) October 3, 2023
