After officially being released on April 19, following many teasers given on social media, Drake’s newest single, “Push Ups,” brought major attention to the rap community. Dropping the huge names of other rappers like Metro Boomin’ and Kendrick Lamar, Drake left an open field for critique.
“Push Ups” follows an uncredited feature from Lamar on Future and Metro Boomin’s newest album, We Don’t Trust You. In this album, he dissed both J. Cole and Drake, saying, “‘For all your dogs getting buried.” This is a direct reference to Drake’s newest album, For All The Dogs, which came out in Oct. 2023.
Metro finds himself a comfy seat in the hot zone with Drake after tweeting and deleting this past Dec., “‘Her Loss’ still keeps winning rap album of the year over [‘Heroes & Villains’]. Proof that award shows are just politics and not for me.” Metro’s deleted tweet spills how Drake’s album, Her Loss, among many others, beat Metro time after time.
As if the tweet wasn’t enough, Drake then went on Instagram Live to call out Metro, calling all “tweet-and-deleters” and saying he was “sick to his stomach.” Following his live, Metro unfollowed Drake on Instagram, and the beef was settled.
Compared to Kendrick’s verse on “Like That,” “Push Ups” was a musical masterpiece. Drake’s track is set to pump at 91 bpm and starts strong right off the bat.
Throughout the entire song, Drake pokes fun at Kendrick Lamar’s height rapping. The lyrics may be explicit; view them here.
The entire premise of the song is surrounded by Lamar’s size seven shoe, as you can see on the track cover, and sprinkled into the lyrics. Drake pokes fun at Kendrick’s recently released album, Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, questioning how Lamar can really be a big stepper if he’s so short—standing head and shoulders above the rest at 5 feet, 5 inches.
Overall, “Push Ups” was a cutthroat, violent murder in the music industry. Drake’s insults, from the height of mainstream music collaborations that Kendrick has done to the comparison to Michael Jackson and Prince, were seamless. I felt passionate that this single put Drake miles ahead of his competitors by releasing a track that didn’t need to be deciphered.
His lyrics weren’t cryptic, but instead, they were articulate, bouncy, and venomous. The sweeping composition of “Push Ups” was unmatched, as Drake danced over every beat without fail.
“Push Ups” was an incredible drop, and I have so much more respect for Drake after listening. I rate this song a 10/10.
