Getty Editorial #: 610823956
Drake’s new album Scorpion is just about to be unleashed, and between No. 1 songs and vicious rap battles, all eyes are yet again on The Boy. The now-settled beef with Pusha-T has overshadowed almost anything else Drake has done over the past month (his most recent single was not well received, and even the excitement about his epic TV show reunion dissipated pretty quickly). So the question we’re all left wondering is: what now? How will—or won’t—Scorpion change the story that Drake is “hiding a child,” has left an Adidas deal left in ruins, and took a definitive L in his long-running battle with King Push? Here are some ways that Drake could handle the situation on his new project, along with our odds on each one’s likelihood.
Fire Back At Pusha-T
Chance of Happening: 15%
Even though J. Prince said that Drake shouldn’t respond—and you should, as a rule, do whatever J. Prince says—there’s always the option of returning fire. If the rumors that Drizzy has a career-killing track (for Kanye) in the stash ultimately prove true, taking a shot at Ye would be an attention getter on an epic scale. Lest we forget, tension between Drake and Kanye has been building for a long, long time. The song, Prince claims, also took shots at Pusha, which might give Drake back some respect among battle aficionados.
This strategy has the upside of potentially reversing the generally-agreed-upon narrative that Drake lost. But it also runs the risk—if the Kanye disses focus on what some gossip blogs seem to think they do—of looking unnecessarily cruel. Attacking a person who has publicly been going through mental health struggles might turn otherwise sympathetic listeners against Drizzy. It’s also likely to drag more G.O.O.D. Music spitters into the battle in order to defend their chief, and thus to dilute and continue the beef well past the point where most people stop caring. Attacking Ye might turn an easy-to-understand one-on-one battle into a modern-day version of the Roxanne Wars, with so many participants it becomes impossible to keep them straight.
Acknowledge That He Has A Son
Chance of Happening: 10%
If Pusha was right about Drake being a father, the OVO head honcho should get out in front of the story. Drake could admit that he’s the father, and explain his reasoning behind keeping that fact a secret. If it’s a good enough reason, it might actually make Pusha look bad for exposing the truth. After all, no one is against keeping a child safe.
If he does this right, with either complete earnestness or a winking maybe-I-mean-it-maybe-I-don’t attitude a la Biggie’s response to 2Pac’s claims of sleeping with Big’s wife, he just might come out on top.
Deny, Deny, Deny
Chance of Happening: 10%
The kid is not his son! If Drake comes out of the gate denying everything—and does it convincingly—that changes everything. Pusha-T could go from Pulitzer-worthy to Jayson Blair in the blink of an eye. And hip-hop might just retrospectively change its mind about the outcome of the battle. After all, Pusha’s digs are only cutting if they’re true.
Ignore Everything
Chance of Happening: 45%
Since people have no attention span anymore (thank you, internet!), the safest and most likely path for Drake is to just pretend nothing ever happened, and push no one’s t at all. He can go on creating viral moments, making us all cry, and continuing to dominate the Billboard charts. In this scenario, his true revenge will be his continued success.
It’s likely that some hip-hop purists won’t be satisfied with this. But let’s be honest: most of those people already abandoned him years ago the second the ghostwriting controversy started.
Don't Name Names
Chance of Happening: 20%
One way to address the Pusha-T situation and not violate J. Prince’s edict would be to go heavy on the subliminals. Drake could have plenty of pointed lines about haters, liars, false friends, fake drug dealers, washed-up producers, and the like, without letting a proper noun escape his lips. There’s certainly plenty of precedent in his catalog for that.
This would automatically create interest amongst fans, who will likely be combing through every lyric (likely with some help from salivating media outlets) to see who their hero might be talking about. It wouldn’t play well with classicists, who would want to hear a direct response or none at all. But, again, how many of those people would really be in Aubrey’s corner anyway?
We’ll have to wait until early Friday morning to see which one of these five approaches Drake takes, or whether he confounds our expectations and does something else entirely. But no matter what, we know he’ll have our attention. And that, battle or no battle, is the biggest win of all.