"Push Ups" | ||||
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Single by Drake | ||||
Released | April 19, 2024 | |||
Genre | Hip hop | |||
Length | 3:52 | |||
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Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) |
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Drake singles chronology | ||||
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"Push Ups" is a diss track by Canadian rapper Drake, released on April 19, 2024. The track serves as a response to several songs (primarily "Like That") from Metro Boomin and Future's collaborative albums We Don't Trust You and We Still Don't Trust You (both 2024).[1] "Push Ups" targets Metro Boomin, Future, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross, the Weeknd, and Ja Morant.[2]
A demo version of "Push Ups" leaked on April 13, 2024, featuring samples from "Get Money" by Junior M.A.F.I.A. and an alternate outro. Another version leaked later that day and contained an extended sung outro and lyric changes but omitted the samples. Due to the low audio technical quality of the initial demo, some fans speculated that the track was a product of artificial intelligence rather than a genuine song.[3] This was debunked once the track officially released on April 19.[4]
"Push Ups" is the second song serving as a response to "Like That", after J. Cole's "7 Minute Drill", which released on April 5 but was removed from streaming services a week later.[5]
Further information: Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud |
Drake and Kendrick Lamar have had a long history with one another, with Lamar featuring on Drake's 2011 album Take Care on the song "Buried Alive Interlude" and Drake featuring on Lamar's 2012 song "Poetic Justice" from Lamar's album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City. The two have also been featured on A$AP Rocky's 2012 posse cut "Fuckin' Problems". However following these collaborations, Lamar featured on Big Sean's 2013 song "Control", where he called out Drake and other rappers, saying "I got love for you all but I'm trying to murder you niggas."[1] Kendrick later attacked artists who used ghostwriters in a 2017 interview, with some considering it to be a reference to Drake, who had used ghostwriters in the past.[6] The two also dissed one another on several songs during this period, but each never mentioned the other by name.
On Drake's 2023 song "First Person Shooter" with J. Cole, Cole said that he, along with Drake, and Lamar made up the "Big Three" of modern rap music.[7] Six months later, Lamar responded to "First Person Shooter" through a surprise appearance on Future and Metro Boomin's single "Like That", from their collaborative album We Don't Trust You (2024), where he dismissed J. Cole's "Big Three" remark and claimed that he alone rules the rap scene. Lamar also makes several references to Drake, calling his "best work" a "light pack" and comparing their rivalry to that of Michael Jackson and Prince, saying "Prince outlived Mike Jack."[8] "Push Ups" was seen by many as a response to "Like That", as well as a culmination of the feud between Lamar and Drake.
Before it was formally released, two versions of the track surfaced online on April 13, 2024. Earlier that day, a teaser billboard and digital banner from Spotify hinted at a new release from Drake, believed to be associated with the diss track:[9]
Hip-Hop is a competitive sport.
Drake is on the way.
The song was later officially released on April 19.
Drake opens the song by saying "I could never be nobody number-one fan / Your first number one, I had to put it in your hand", which were assessed as a response to lyrics from "We Don't Trust You" ("Fake written all over you / Hate written all over you" and "You a nigga number one fan, dog / Sneak dissin', I don't understand, dog / Pillowtalkin', actin' like a fed, dog / I don't need another fake friend, dog / Can't be 'bout a ho, 'cause we sharin', dog / In your feelings, nigga, why you payin', dog?") by Future.[10] Future and Drake have a long musical history: they first collaborated in 2011, released the mixtape What a Time to Be Alive in 2015, and the US top-15 singles "Wait for U", "Life Is Good", "Way 2 Sexy", "Jumpman", and "Used to This", Way 2 Sexy becoming Future's first number 1 hit on the Hot 100 chart. Drake also reportedly references Future's assistant Just Tokyo, with the line, "I'm out in Tokyo because I'm big in Japan" and references Future's ex-fiancee Ciara with the lines, "Rolling Loud stage, y'all were turnt, that was slick as hell / Shit'll probably change if your BM start to kiss and tell".
Drake disparages Metro Boomin, telling him to "shut [his] hoe ass up and make some drums, nigga",[11] and targets the Weeknd, rapping: "Y'all nigga manager was Chubbs lil' blunt runner / Claim the 6ix and you boys ain't even come from it / And when you boys got rich, you had to run from it / Cash blowin' Abel bread, out here trickin' / Shit we do for bitches, he doin' for niggas".[12] The line "Hugs and kisses, man, don't tell me 'bout no switches" was assessed at referencing the Weeknd and his XO record label.
Drake mostly attacks Lamar on the remainder of the song, rapping, "You won't ever take no chain off of us" as a response to a lyric from Lamar's verse on "Like That" ("I'm snatchin' chains and burnin' tattoos") while mocking Lamar's height ("How the fuck you big steppin' with a size-seven men's on?") by referencing Lamar's 2022 album Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.[11] Drake alleges Lamar's record deal with Top Dawg Entertainment was set up to enable its CEO Anthony "Top" Tiffith to take 50% of Lamar's career earnings ("Top told you, "Drop and give me fifty," like some push-ups"),[11] and attacks Lamar's musical authenticity, stating ("You better do that motherfuckin' show inside the bity / Maroon 5 need a verse, you better make it witty / Then we need a verse for the Swifties"). According to Complex writer Jordan Rose, these lines attack those who assess Lamar's music to hold greater integrity compared to Drake's.[11]
Drake also directly responds to several lines from "Like That": he scoffs at the idea of a "Big Three" in rap music and states SZA, Travis Scott, and 21 Savage are better artists than Lamar; states Lamar's previous attacks are from a position of jealousy ("I'm at the top of the mountain, so you tight now"); and calls himself greater than Lamar by flipping Lamar's comparison of himself to Prince and Drake to Michael Jackson, exclaiming, "What's a prince to a king? He a son, nigga".[11] The line "I be with some bodyguards like Whitney" references Lamar's wife, Whitney Alford and claims his feud with Lamar goes beyond "Like That" saying, "And that fuckin' song y'all got did not start the beef with us / This shit been brewin' in a pot, now I'm heatin' up / I don't care what Cole think, that Dot shit was weak as fuck".
Drake spends portions of the song attacking Rick Ross: "I might take your latest girl and cuff her like I'm Ricky / Can't believe he jumpin' in, this nigga turnin' fifty / Every song that made it on the chart, he got from Drizzy / Spend that lil' check you got and stay up out my business" and Morant, saying, "Shout out to the hooper that be bustin' out the griddy / We know why you mad, nigga, I ain't even trippin' / All that lil' heartbroken Twitter shit for bitches".
Rick Ross responded to the track with "Champagne Moments", which premiered snippets on April 13, the same day "Push Ups" was leaked. It was later officially released on April 15.[13] The song alleges Drake uses ghostwriters; that he sent a cease-and-desist to block a collaboration with French Montana and that Drake purposefully leaked "Push Ups"; and that he had plastic surgeries.[14]