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Hip-hop and rap are full of diss tracks. Now, the ranks of Biggie, Eminem, and Jay-Z have been joined by Pusha T. The rapper has beef with…McDonald’s. And now, the rapper has released a diss track in collaboration with Arby’s.
Pusha T’s Releases New Diss Track
Arby's/YouTube
You read that right — Pusha T released a diss track aimed at McDonald’s, and Arby’s is in on it. Called "Spicy Fish Diss Track,” the song dropped on March 21. It garnered over 378,000 views in six days on Arby’s official YouTube channel.
The commercial diss track goes hard. Pusha T certainly didn’t hold back. Apparently, money didn’t interest the rapper much while working with Arby’s. Instead, he really wanted to tell the world about his grudge against McDonald's. "I'm the reason the whole world love it; now I gotta crush it. Filet-O-Fish is ***, and you should be disgusted,” he spits out, referring to the track he made for McDonald’s years ago.
The Virginia musician said he spent a lot of time and effort making the "I'm Lovin' It" jingle. Due to his young age and experience, the company didn’t pay him much, though. "I am solely responsible for the 'I'm Lovin' It' swag and the jingle of that company," Pusha T told Rolling Stone. "I did it at a very young age at a very young time in my career where I wasn't asking for as much money and ownership. It's something that's always dug at me later in life like, 'Dammit, I was a part of this and I should have more stake.'”
Arby’s vs. McDonald’s
Arby's/YouTube
McDonald’s has been using the jingle for years now, but Pusha T has yet to receive the revenue. “It was like half a million or a million dollars for me and my brother — but that's peanuts for as long as that's been running,” he said. “I had to get that energy off me, and this [ad] was the perfect way to get that energy like, 'You know what? I'm over it.'"
And the energy is prominent in the diss track. While it only lasts 75 seconds, Pusha T ends up saying that "a little cube of fish from a clown is basic" and "drowned in tarter that Filet-O-Fish is tasteless." In the music video, Arby's shows off their own fish sandwiches, which includes newbies such as the King's Hawaiian Fish Deluxe, the Spicy Fish Sandwich, and the Crispy Fish Sandwich.
Arby's chief marketing officer and president, Patrick Schwing, is into Pusha T’s energy. The company thinks it’s a great marketing stunt. "Once you publish a diss track, there is no backing down. It's the ultimate expression of confidence in your talent, or in this case, taste. Our new Spicy Fish sandwich is better than the square fish competition, and we're excited to issue this challenge,” Schwing said. “It only made sense to partner with the Pusha T, the best diss track artist in hip-hop, to help tell our story."
Pusha T doesn’t seem to care about Arby’s sales. Instead, the artist sees it more as a positive for his career. "I'm the first-ever fish sandwich diss ever," he told Rolling Stone, "and I should go down in history for that."
Sources: Food & Wine, Rolling Stone, Vulture
