Duppy Freestyle

Lore & Background

On the final track of Pusha-T's 2018 album Daytona, "Infrared", Pusha-T perpetuates allegations of ghostwriting which have been leveled against Drake. In response, Drake released "Duppy Freestyle" on the same day of the album's release. Drake posted on Instagram a few hours after the release, sending subliminals to Pusha-T with a photo of a bill OVO had sent to G.O.O.D Music and Def Jam for $100,000 captioned "You're welcome". The satirical reason behind the bill was "promotional assistance and career reviving". Pusha-T responded four days later with a track titled "The Story of Adidon".

Reader's Guide

The song takes shots at G.O.O.D Music artists Pusha T and Kanye West. The word "duppy" is Jamaican patois for an evil spirit or ghost. Drake implies that he ghostwrote music for Kanye West in Wyoming, calling him a "leech and serpent" for resenting Virgil Abloh. He also questioned Pusha-T and his brother Malice's drug dealing background. Drake ended the song by denying ghostwriting allegations from Meek Mill and name dropping Pusha-T's wife. The music sampled is Táta Vega's "Ever So Lovingly".

Did You Know?

• The song was released on SoundCloud.
• Matthew Schnipper from Pitchfork described the track as Drake letting loose a 'big old exasperated sigh' and dismantling Pusha with 'glorious pettiness'.
• Aron A. from HotNewHipHop rated the song 'Very Hot' and called it 'an incredible moment in hip hop'.