Drake Explains Blackface Photo After Pusha T Releases Diss Track: The Story of Adidon
Drake responds. Well kinda...
The 31-year-old rapper took to his Instagram Stories yesterday after making headlines for his ongoing feud with rapper Pusha T. Most of the drama centers around Pusha T’s new song, “The Story of Adidon,” which dropped on Tuesday, which is a diss track in response to Drake's song, “Duppy Freestyle.”
The feud between the two rap stars reignited last week when Pusha's new album, produced by Kanye West, was released. In his song “Infrared,” Pusha T accuses Drake of continuing to use a ghostwriter, Quentin Miller to write songs for him.
The cover art for Pusha's lastest track, "The Story of Adidon" has made headlines as it appears to be an old photo of Drake in blackface paint. Pusha T has insisted that the image was not "artwork" and is real portrait of the Canadian rapper, and Drake did not dispute this in his social media statement:
“I know everyone is enjoying the circus but I want to clarify this image in question,” he wrote. “This was not from a clothing brand shoot or my music career. This picture is from 2007, a time in my life where I was an actor and I was working on a project that was about young black actors struggling to get roles, being stereotyped and type cast.”
“The photos represented how African Americans were once wrongfully portrayed in entertainment,” Drake continued. “Me and my best friend at the time, Mazin Elsadig, who is also an actor from Sudan, were attempting to use our voice to bring awareness to the issues we dealt with all the time as black actors at auditions.”
Via Instagram, @Champagnepapi
The "Nice For What" rapper did not mention Pusha by name or reference the song in his statement, but rather concluded, “This was to highlight and raise our frustrations with not always getting a fair chance in the industry and to make a point that the struggle for black actors has not changed much."
Please stop referring to this picture as “artwork”...I’m not an internet baby, I don’t edit images...this is a REAL picture...these are his truths, see for yourself https://t.co/gd6vRS3HM8 pic.twitter.com/2el58HEZ8F
— King Push (@PUSHA_T) May 30, 2018
In "The Story of Adidon," Pusha does mention Drake by name in one of his lyrics as well as Drake's father and mother, Dennis and Sandi Graham. The 41-year-old musician goes on to rap about an illegitimate child, leading many fans to believe he's alluding to Drake having a secret son.
"Let 'em know who you chose as your Beyoncé. Sophie knows better as your baby mother," Pusha raps. "Cleaned her up for IG, but the stench is on her. A baby's involved, it's deeper than rap. We talkin' character, let me keep with the facts. You are hiding a child, let that boy come home Deadbeat mothaf**ka playin' border patrol, ooh."
The song continues, "Adonis is your son and he deserves more than an Adidas press run. That's real. Love that baby, respect that girl."