On Monday, Pusha T teamed up with a McDonald’s competitor to release Spicy Fish Diss Track. The 75-second song that had racked up more than 4 million views his Twitter account As of Tuesday morning, Arby’s new Spicy Fish Sandwich overdoes it while attacking McDonald’s classic Filet-O-Fish.
“I’m the reason the whole world loves it, now I gotta crush it,” Pusha T raps, before comparing McDonald’s fish sandwich to feces. “You should be disgusted. How dare you sell a square fish and ask us to trust him? Half a slice of cheese, Mickey D is on a budget?”
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Pusha T might not like the Filet-O-Fish, but his beef with the Golden Arches is bigger than a single menu item. The rapper was in his 20s in 2003 when he and his brother, who goes by the stage name No Malice, wrote the “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle, Pusha T said in a Rolling Stone interview published Monday became. The brothers claim they were paid about $1 million in total, which Pusha T called “peanuts while this lasts.”
It has anchored McDonald’s advertising ever since.
“I am solely responsible for this company’s ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ swag and jingle,” he told Rolling Stone. “It’s just real. I am the reason.”
McDonald’s did not immediately respond to a Washington Post request for comment Monday night.
In a 2016 article titled “The Contentious Tale of the McDonald’s ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ Jingle,” Pitchfork reported that others credited with creating the jingle have denied that the rapper was involved. Pusha T commented on the controversy during an appearance on Pitchfork Radio that year: “It’s funny that people find it so amusing now that I wrote that,” he said.
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In the new Rolling Stone interview, Pusha T said he wrote the Jinling when he was young and didn’t ask for as much money or ownership of his music as he does now – something he regrets. It’s been nagging at him for two decades.
“I was a part of it and I should have more of a part,” he told Rolling Stone.
Then came Arby’s and a chance to exorcise these supposed demons. In the Diss track/commercial, Pusha unleashed T and brandished the sandwich made with Ronald McDonald as “a little fish cube by a clown.” He slandered it as “simple,” “drowned in cream of tartar,” and “tasteless.”
In contrast, Pusha T said, “Arby’s only offerings in size,” its “crispy fish just hit the spot.” With lines around the corner, we might need a guest list.”
The diss track did it. “I had to get that energy out of me, and this [ad] was the perfect way,” the rapper told Rolling Stone. “You know what? I’m over it.”