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On “Stay Woke,” Meek and Miguel portray a broken justice system—ranging from police brutality, and gun violence to mass incarceration, and prison reform.
The song premiered at the 2018 BET Awards. His performance featured a street corner with kids playing in the background, who were later shot by police officers. At the near-end of the song, men and women were shown behind prison bars. At the end, the prison bars were dropped.
Meek paid respect to late rappers XXXTENTACION and Jimmy Wopo during his performance by wearing a hoodie with both of their faces on.
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It's like a jungle outside
Sometimes I wonder how I keep from goin' under Meek Mill (Ft. Miguel) – Stay Woke
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Meek interpolates the intro from “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. The ‘80s classic is considered by many to be one of first hip-hop records to feature socially conscious lyrics versus the sound at the time, which mostly catered to the party scene. Like the original song, Meek’s message is one of resilience and strength.
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For the thousandth time, the kid ain't mine
Online they call me "dad," kiddingly
You're not supposed to take this dad thing literally THE CARTERS – HEARD ABOUT US
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Now they wanna do your boy like Mike in his prime
Billie Jean, the goddamn boy ain’t mine!
“Billie Jean” is one of Michael Jackson’s most famous songs and is about a woman who spends a night with Michael and then claims he is the father of her newborn son. Michael repeats the lyric “but the kid is not my son” throughout the chorus.
After first coming forward in July 2016, aspiring rapper Rymir Satterthwaite resurfaced in May 2018 claiming that he’s JAY-Z’s son. Rymir’s mother told The Sun she met Jay in 1992 in Philadelphia and hooked up with him at her aunt’s apartment in Brooklyn, New York.
Rymir and Wanda tried contacting Jay in 2009 but only dealt with lawyers. They claim that Jay has dodged a DNA test for over 8 years. According to a report by RapRadar, Rymir’s case will be tried in the Family Civil Liberties Union court in December 2018.
Calling someone “dad” on social media is a form of endearment for a male figure. Jay feels like some fans are — quite literally — taking their adoration of him too far.
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They call me dad KID-dingly
exactly..dad stop playin
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In 2016, Kanye reported that he was in $53 million dollars of personal debt after trying to make it on his own in the fashion world. Since then, Kanye’s YEEZY shoe line with Adidas and his own YEEZY clothing line have reportedly made him “the highest paid person in footwear.”
Kanye’s also referring to his recent struggles with prescription drugs and controversies like his comments on slavery which he addresses on “Wouldn’t Leave.”
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Double entendre: Ye raps “debt” to make it sound like “dead”. “I had dead on my books” could then imply he was almost written-off by the people for his controversial remarks.
Salt and pepper are usually stored in shakers, with would play off of “i got white on my beard” Meaning salt and pepper hair
Pay attention to the way he pronounces the ‘r’ at the end of ‘year’ and to the ‘r’ in the next line as well. It’s unique to these couple of lines only, then he switches it back up to a normal pronunciation ‘r’ immediately.
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In 2016, Kanye reported that he was in $53 million dollars of personal debt after trying to make it on his own in the fashion world. Since then, Kanye’s YEEZY shoe line with Adidas and his own YEEZY clothing line have reportedly made him “the highest paid person in footwear.”
Kanye may also be referring to his recent struggles with prescription drugs and controversies like his comments on slavery which he addresses on “Wouldn’t Leave.” While many of his contemporaries unfollowed him on social media and distanced themselves from him, it seems Kanye’s closest family and friends have stayed by his side.
Pictured: Some of Kanye’s oldest & closest friends in Wyoming including Ibn Jasper, Don C, and Malik Yusef.
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On “No Mistakes,” Kanye reflects on the financial and mental health issues he has struggled with since his 2016 hospitalization. He also takes shots at Drake following his “Duppy Freestyle,” on which he addressed both Ye and Pusha-T.
The song samples Slick Rick’s 1988 song “Hey Young World,” and the chorus starts with the piano sample by The Edwin Hawkins Singers, “Children Get Together.”
The song features Kid Cudi and Charlie Wilson, two artists Kanye has collaborated with on multiple songs. Eight days after ye was released, Kanye and Cudi released a collaborative album, KIDS SEE GHOSTS.
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I think this song could refer to music/the industry. Kanye’s first love coming in was the music, he wanted to do fashion and design things as well but his first priority for the first 10 or so years was the music. This song applies the idea that after all this time in fashion, all the negative press Kanye’s received, all the off-wax antics, make no mistake — Kanye still loves the music.
he worked with wilson on brothers og
And we up in this bitch until they turn the club off
Had to tell the dogs, "Turn the snubs off" Kanye West – No Mistakes
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Kanye may be responding to Drake after he dissed Kanye and Pusha T on “Duppy Freestyle.” Pusha-T previously threw shots at Drake for being light skin on “The Story of Adidon”:
Confused, always felt you weren’t Black enough
Afraid to grow it ‘cause your 'fro wouldn’t nap enough
“These two wrongs’ll right you” calls all the way back to Kanye’s 2005 song “Touch The Sky” where he raps:
I’m tryin' to right my wrongs
But it’s funny them same wrongs helped me write this song
Drake referenced this line on both “Poetic Justice” and “Legend,” which Pusha flipped recently on his Drake diss “Infrared,” rapping:
How could you ever right these wrongs
When you don’t even write your songs?
“Too close to snipe you, truth told, I like you” may refer to the proximity of Kanye and Drake’s houses. They both live in Calabasas, a wealthy area near L.A. A sniper rifle is a long range weapon, and Ye and Drake not only live close together but they also have a history of having a good relationship with one another, appearing together on the songs “Forever” and “Glow.” Their intimacy in location and music means Kanye cannot just send shots at him thoughtlessly.
Ice Cube is considered one of the greatest song writers in hip-hop history and is revered for not backing down or compromising his art. On the song “Chain Heavy,” Kanye similarly compares himself to Ice Cube along with Michael Jackson:
I am the day Ice Cube met Michael Jackson
Kanye is willing to take shots at Drake on wax (too bold to type you) but feels he’s too rich for an all out war. Kanye’s estimated net-worth is $160 million, while Drake’s net worth is estimated to be around $100 million.
Also note that “too bold to type you” is a play on bold typeface formatting.
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The I was too grown in high school Line Maybe A Reference
To Degrassi The Next Generation Which A Boy In A Wheelchair Name Jimmy Brooks Was On Which Is Drake
So That Line Maybe A Directed Jab At Drake
“…Ye and Drake not only live close together but they also have a history of having a good relationship with one another…” Ye and Drake do not have a history of having a good relationship. Yes, they have appeared on songs together in the past, such as Forever, however they have had beef for some time now. There has been a history of sneak disses from both Ye and Drake towards each other. More recently in 2022 Kanye and Drake squashed their beef, but considering the time that this album was made and this song was written, they still had bad blood at the time of recording this song. Kanye even says, “Calm down, you light skin” which is very clearly a diss on Drake.
Kanye’s estimated net worth is now about 1.8 Billion!
this is probably a quibble, but I feel like the way the lyric is written doesn’t get across how Kanye cuts himself off—“Calm down, you light skin–” might be better. there’s an implied missing word, I think.
“but the gloves off” could be referencing the OJ scandal with the glove not fitting, ultimately proving OJ is innocent.
he’s saying tru soul of ice cubes as a reference to the face that ice cube is light skinned and he would be the inner dark skinned that shines out of him when he has to get tough…seeing as he has to get tough with whoever he is referencing (coughs Drake)
he took the whole flow of these lines from Wayne’s Dr.carter
“But I’m too wrong to right, too fresh to fight
Too paid to freestyle, too paid to freestyle”
which is also a song Wayne referenced him as use to save hip-hop
“I was too grown in high school,” ???
It’s not that kanye is “too much richer” than drake to fight him, it’s that he is too rich and happy to fight drake or anyone else.
If you follow the rhyme scheme towards the end of the song, it sounds like he in fact said “Calm down you light skinned Jew,” and Jew was abruptly cut off. And we all know that Drake is Jewish.
Are we all 100% sure it’s not “turn the subs off”? In the previous line hes talking about a club getting shut down, he had to let his homies know to shut down the subs which will make them even more upset considering the cubs just lost
Kanye is not dissing Drake……he’s said plenty of times he doesn’t want beef
“Ice Cube is considered one of the greatest song writers in hip-hop history and is revered for not backing down or compromising his art. On the song “Chain Heavy,” Kanye similarly compares himself to Ice Cube along with Michael Jackson:”
… What? No, Kanye is comparing himself to the day, the event in which Ice Cube met Michael Jackson. Do you remember when you met someone famous the first time? It was an unforgettable moment. Like such Kanye is saying the day Michael and Ice met was iconic, two amazing artist meeting, and he is that iconic day.
“ I am the day Ice Cube met Michael Jackson” – Kanye West
A ‘snub’ is referring to a a sneak diss within a verse, Kanye is saying he had to tell his ‘dogs’, who would be his artists on good music, to not send any more disses towards drake
“I was too grown in high school”
I believe this is Kanye saying that he was too old for this stuff even when he was in highschool. Referring to the petty beef that Drake is starting. Could also be Kanye saying that he is ahead of his time… Like he always does.
“Too Bold to type you”
I believe this is Kanye wrote this to defend why he never called Drake out over Social Media. Sorta like drakes lyric from Back to Back “Trigger fingers turned to twitter fingers”. Kanye is not gonna be a keyboard warrior with drake.
“These two wrongs’ll right you” calls all the way back to Kanye’s 2006 song “Touch The Sky” where he raps:
I’m tryin' to right my wrongs
But it’s funny them same wrongs helped me write this song
I just want to suggest that this line is more a response to Drake calling out Pusha and Kanye in “Duppy Freestyle”. Kanye is basically saying because he made two wrongs by attacking them, that he is going to “right” him, or put him in his place!
The “calm down you’re light skin” part could be a direct shot at Drake, js
‘Calm down, you light skin" The joke is light skin guys are overly sensitive and quick to anger.
K, West. you are pushing boundaries. While at the same time, taking advantage of societies foolishness to make more chips. That’s “art”.
The Ice Cube line is a reference to his diss towards Eazy-E. He’s saying that he’s how Ice Cube really felt writing those bars.
@abbebusuri it’s not to cole they’re actually cool now, he posted that on twitter i believe. Ye redid the album a month before release so it’s more than likely to drake, plus he knew pusha was doing infrared on top of that, it’s definitely aimed at drake rather than cole.
Too bold to type you could mean that he wants to confront him in person instead of on social media.
If we’re going to mention Kanye’s previous comparison of himself to Ice Cube on Chain Heavy then we’ll also need to mention him doing the same on THat Part
Nigga with an attitude I feel like O’Shea
Also, Forever & Glow we’re not the only Drake x Kanye collaborations. Pop Style, All Of The Lights and possibly more are also collaborations between the two
I don’t think this is a reply to Drake. The beef was literally 3 days before the album drop. This is more to J Cole. For False Prophets and he told Charlamagne Tha God that he feels like Cole is always taking shots at him. With False prophets and No Role Modelz.
i like the juxtaposition of “bold as Kanye / bold as typeface / bold as darker skin ” and “calm as Drake / light as typeface / literally light skinned”
Based on the rhyming pattern, I am stuck on the theory that Ye stopped short of saying saying something “Jew” related in lieu of “calm down you light skinned!” It was a bar by bar build up that ended in something off-rhyme.
Maybe something about the last line “Calm down, you light skin!” could be added into this amazing annotation. As a matter of fact, i think that line is maybe the best one where we can suppose Kanye is talking about Drake, because Drake’s skin color is lighter than Pusha’s or Kanye’s.
Anybody else think the “And we up in this bitch until they turn the club off, had to tell the dogs "Turn the snubs off”“ line refers to Drake’s line on God’s Plan when he says he’ll bring the crashers to the party
maybe the fact that since he was doing pusha’s album, and he knew he was doing infrared? i feel it’s a subliminal, it’s not too specific like what’s been said in the drake/pusha beef.
This might be a reach, but with the “true soul of Ice Cube” line, I was thinking of that Ice Cube song “The Nigga You Love to Hate” and how Kanye thrives being that and lives off the controversy surrounding him.
Could “Too close to snipe you” be a reference to the fact that Kanye and Drake are neighbours in Hidden Hills?
Yeah I agree. He’s basically saying that after hearing about Drake dissing him, he’s got his thugs turning the safety off their snubs, thus making them ready to fire shots.
@Michael snub is a snub nosed revolver or a snub nosed gun
50 Cent on Disco Inferno:
Outside the Benz on dubs, I’m in the club with a snub, dont start nothin there wont be nothin
I’ve heard Lloyd Banks reference snubs before as well as other artists.
@genius-editorial-board – anyone know what the “turn the snubs off” line refers to?
And he deserves more than an Adidas press run; that's real
Love that baby, respect that girl
Forget she's a pornstar, let her be your world, yuugh! Pusha T – The Story of Adidon
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In Greek mythology, Adonis was conceived through incestuous love between Myrrha and her father King Cinyras. Cinyras could not accept the child, and caused Myrrha to be turned into a myrrh tree. The goddess Aphrodite gave the infant to Persephone to be raised in the Underworld, though he would later become Aphrodite’s lover. Cinyras rejecting Adonis parallels Drake allegedly rejecting his son.
Drake is rumored to be joining Adidas in June 2018, the same apparel company Pusha and Kanye West have deals with. Push went on The Breakfast Club the morning after this song released and claimed that Drake’s new Adidas line was going to be titled “AdiDon” after his son.
Pusha added: “But we couldn’t know about your child until you started selling sweatsuits and sneakers?” clearly pressing Drake to be better than his father who he addressed earlier in the diss for leaving Drake at the age of 5. Push also said “I don’t even hang with my friends who have child support issues. I’m big on kids, for real.”
On 17th October 2018, Pusha T revealed on the Joe Budden Podcast that the information about Drake’s son did not come from Kanye, rather Drake’s very own trusted producer Noah “40” Shebib.
Apparently the Virginia rapper said that the info he told the world in The Story of Adidon was actually given to him by 40, as he mentioned during his interview with Budden:
The information came from 40…It didn’t come from Kanye, at all. 40 is sleeping with a woman, who begins to… he talks to her daily. Five, six hours a day… And ultimately speaks about how he’s disgruntled about certain things, notoriety and things involving Drake and his career, and so on and so forth. With that also came the fact that Drake has a child. With that also came the trip that everybody took to go see the child, and bring him gifts, and all this information. She divulged this information. That’s where it came from.
“Let her be your world” is a reference to Drake’s 2015 Meek Mill diss track “Back to Back” where he told Meek to give his then girlfriend, Nicki Minaj, the world.
You love her, then you gotta give the world to her
Is that a world tour or your girl’s tour?
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I repeat this part just to again and again hear that “Yuugh”.. Pusha T adds so much impact with that ad-lib
Since we have no idea what Drake’s relationship with his son is, it is pure speculation that he is a deadbeat and only using his son for marketing purposes. If he is indeed naming his son after his Adidas line, he probably has a relationship with the child and is financially supporting him.
Pusha is cross referencing “Lord Knows” where Drake says “Talking strippers and models that try to gain attention
Even a couple porn stars that I’m ashamed to mention”
Sophie was also a WorldStar candy girl as confirmed by the post today. “Forget she’s a pornSTAR let her be your WORLD.”
@syncopation @BrianErwin @MisterM The myth part is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, just like with Drake, Adonis is not accepted by his father, and her mother is turned into a tree/(silenced!). If Sophie chose this name (likely), it would be a very fitting, meaningful name, especially considering Adonis was a very handsome boy. Is it coincidence, and just a common name? Not really, I looked up the birth stats for France, there’s only 1 child named Adonis per 14000 babies born, or 50 per year (in a country of 67 million!). To put that in perspective, names like “Jules”, “Louis” or “Emma” have some 5000 births per year. Again, I don’t think it’s coincidence.
@syncopation I think the Greek myth is super interesting because it’s an uncommon name. Remember, the point of an annotation isn’t to explain a line, but rather frame context, history, depth, etc… behind a line. If something is unique enough (like the name Adonis) imo it deserves a bit of an explanation.
how is the greek myth relevant at all?
what’s with the greek myth stuff?
@Samuelito i’m not sure where he said it (maybe @Michael does?) but i’m pretty sure push just says “yuugh” after bars that he thinks are disgustingly hard/disrespectful
@Samuelito Yeah, it’s not the most enlightened thing, but I think Push is being sarcastic when he says “let her be your world”. Especially when coupled with the line about Beyonce.
@ewokABdevito “Yugh!” is one of the better adlibs in general, anyway, don’t you think the timing of it, as it sounds like he’s mocking Drake for knocking up a stripper, was perhaps a little weird considering the lyrics?
I wonder if it’s deliberately done, is it Pusha’s way to say that either choice would’ve been an “L” for Drake? Either you’re a sorry excuse for a man and continuing an unfortunate trend that has further crippled the Black community (however, there is a reason to why this phenomenon was sparked which was influenced outside the community) much akin to his father’s relationship with Sandi, contuining on this “Drake is a coon” theme Pusha’s loosely tying together. Or, you look like a sucker for having a baby and wifing up a pornstar.
Might be a stretch but the timing is peculiar is you ask me, maybe it was an issue fitting it with the flows.
This might also be the most effective Pusha Yuuggh ever. That ad-lib really makes this lyric.
The Greek mythology stuff is interesting, but does it really help our understanding of this line? Do we really think Pusha says the name here to compare Drake to King Cinyras?
Adonis is also the name of Apollo Creed’s son in the new movie Creed
the “that’s real” part is one of Drake’s adlib (from Tuscan Leather and a few other tracks.)
The only ones I chase are two ghosts Pusha T – The Story of Adidon
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Speaking on an interview on BigBoyTV, Pusha confirmed that this line is indeed a response to Drake’s “Duppy Freestyle” title (duppy means ghost in Patois) and these lyrics from the song:
I really shouldn’t have given you none of my time
‘Cause you older than the nigga you runnin’ behind
Pusha has been in the rap game since 1999 when he dropped “The Funeral” with his brother No Malice as the Clipse. Since then, he’s released a slew of critically acclaimed albums as part of the Clipse and as a solo artist, including modern day classic Hell Hath No Fury.
“The only ones I chase are two ghosts” refers to The Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac as he confirmed in the aforementioned interview. Push has mentioned both late rappers numerous times in his lyrics. For example, he sampled Biggie on “Untouchable” and paid homage to 2Pac on “What Would Meek Do?”
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could also be a reference to ye and cudi since they had just released “kids see ghosts”
Chasing Ghosts could also be a tease to KIDS SEE GHOSTS, where he was featured on the very first track, Feel The Love
Also could be referencing when LeBron James said he’s chasing the ghost from Chicago (Jordan)
The reference to Biggie and 2Pac carries extra weight because each lost his life in a rap beef. If Push truly does aspire to emulate the two, it goes to follow that he won’t hesitate to take this beef with Drake to the bitter end.
Push plays on the word “note” multiple times however he is referencing 2 dead ghosts being presidents i.e. the notes money is printed on.
This bar interpolates 2006 Hov
The line also sets up pusha as a grim reaper being that he chases ghost which alludes to why he is semingly couting down 40s life in the next line
“two ghosts” could be referring to Ye and Cudi seeing as they are dropping an album together and naming it “kids see ghosts”
Intentional use of the word ghost as a double entendre of the ghosts of t’s favourite rappers… but could also be referring to chasing drakes alleged ghost writers.
“On that same note”, as in on the same level as the previous line. Push is saying he’s on the same level as past great rappers. Also there’s an additional reference to musicality here. On the same ‘note’, for example meaning you repeat a previously played ‘C’ note with another. “Still giving you classics”, just like his predecessors. Taking it further, a few lines later he plays with that repeating notes line with his lyrics: “sick, sick, sick / six six six / snip, snip, snip.” That also refers to the previous line 3 hearses, and the common aged saying that “Death comes in 3’s”.
Already aligned with the greats =Jayz and others. He then says on that same note and goes on to pay homage to Jayz hot 97 freestyle “Hov got flows though he’s no big and pac but he’s close how I’m supposed to win they got me fighting ghost”
He also pays homage to Jayz hot 97 freestyle “Hov got flows though he’s no big and pac but he’s close how I’m supposed to win they got me fighting ghost”
Push also referring to the line “ You not even top 5 as far as your label talent goes”. He does not compete lower tier rapper since he’s an OG in the rap game
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“Surgical summer” is a direct response to Drake’s line on “Duppy Freestyle”:
I’m too resilient, get out your feelin’s
It’s gonna be a cruel summer for you
Pusha-T will be “surgically” picking Drake apart during the summertime. Their beef reignited towards the end of May of 2018 with Pusha’s Drake disses on “Infrared” and Drake’s response track, “Duppy Freestyle.” The mention of “Volume 1” may hint at further diss tracks Push has in store.
It may also refer to Drake reportedly getting liposuction surgery in 2016, which Joe Budden previously pressed Drake about on his 2016 diss track “Afraid.”
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Pusha T explained what he meant by “surgical summer” in these interviews
May also be reference to alleged cosmetic work Drake’s had. ALLEGEDLY. Don’t mob ties me bro
“Easy Money” can also refer to the kyrie vs kobe argument in which kyrie arguing he could beat kobe in a 1v1. kobe insisted to put money on that and refereed to it as easy money for the charity of his choosing
much like this exchange the crafty vet (push ) beat the new Star ( Drake )
kobe went on to dominate any 1v1 or iso situations they had in which kobe scored 42 of the 50 he planned to get that night , and while did kyrie scored 28 in that game , at no point did he score while guarded by kobe.
I was thinking Drake’s Summer Sixteen. “I’m looking for revenge all summer sixteen. Playing Dirty not clean.
Isn’t it just a reference to performing “surgery” on the luxury automobiles he’s referring to in the following lines, i.e. slicing the tops of?
Surgical summer refers to the good music 5 albums coming out every week or so
I think this annotation works really well, the interpretation makes sense. However, that “easy money” line may just be referring to what Pusha T is about to do through his rhymes. When you say, for example in basketball, that doing something (shooting a bucket or dunking) was “easy money” it’s because literally, it was very simple and effortless to take care of. Here Pusha is saying that lyrically Drake is no match for him, so taking Drake apart in this war of words is “easy money” something he can do with his eyes closed.
This could also be a double entendre with what IanSacci mentioned about the record label “young money”. But wait, there’s more, we could also have the infamous triple entendre at play here. The last thing the “easy money” line can be referring to is the financial gain that will be made from this rap beef. Clearly, a lot of attention has been given to the two rappers lately, so without a lot of effort and a couple of pre-produced beats and hard-hitting lines, Pusha is making a handsome and fast profit through the publicity (without much work). This is similar to the rap beef between 50cent and Kanye West, where the beef was so intense and highly televised (50 at one point said he would retire if his album sales weren’t higher than Kanye’s) that the two albums ended up shattering all records for album sales.
Pusha T also explained this in an interview with Power 106 FM saying that this summer is going to be great for Good Music and this is just the start
Easy money may refer to Young Money Entertainment, the record label Drake belongs to. Other than Drake, it includes artists such as Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and DJ Khaled. The term “easy money” is a term used for a person who has an easy job and usually doesn’t have to work hard. This may mean that Pusha doesn’t have to do a lot in order to diss Drake.
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