Drake Addresses Photo Of Himself In Blackface After Pusha T Diss

The public feud between hip-hop artists Pusha T and Drake has taken a new turn with the release of Pusha T’s response to Drake’s “Duppy Freestyle” diss on him, titled “The Story of Adidon.” The song sees Pusha rapping over the instrumental to “The Story of OJ” originally created by another Drake rival, Jay-Z.

In the scathing diss track, Pusha discusses everything from Drake’s parent’s divorce when he was a child, to a supposed illegitimate son by the name of Adonis, to even attacking Drake’s producer Noah “OVO 40” Shebib for having multiple sclerosis. However, the one topic Drake decided to address to his millions of followers following the diss wasn’t even mentioned in the song, it was the cover art.

The cover art for the single has caused quite a media stir as it appears to be an old photo of Drake in black face paint. Pusha T has maintained since the release that the image was not altered whatsoever, and Drake’s response did not dispute this.

In a statement posted to his Instagram story, Drake said that “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.”

He continued on by adding that, “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.”

The “God’s Plan” artist did not directly mention his G.O.O.D Music rival or “The Story of Adidon” in his statement, instead opting to maintain that, “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 indeed mention Drake by name in his lyrics, as well as addressing the fall-out between Drake’s father and mother, Dennis and Sandi Graham.

The label president then goes on to speak about Drake being the father of an illegitimate child, stating “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.”

Pusha then goes on to claim that Drake was not going to address anything having to do with his alleged child until his reported new line with Adidas would be released, in which Pusha said in an interview with The Breakfast Club that he was going to roll his new line out under the name “Adidon” (hence the song title reference) and then subsequently use his son as a face for the campaign of the new products.