Young Money and GOOD Music's So-Called Beef: A Timeline
The battle between Team Yeezy and Team Weezy has a history.
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Young Money vs. GOOD Music: A Timeline - Is there enough room in the rap game for two crews as big, hyped up and skilled as Young Money and G.O.O.D. Music? Maybe not: Led by recent disses from Pusha T, Lil Wayne and Jae Millz, the crews keep butting heads. That is, when they're not collaborating on songs and saying everything's gravy. We don't get it either. But this roller-coaster cold war between Team Yeezy and Team Weezy labels didn't start overnight. Click on for a look back at the twists, turns, ups and downs of this confusing, off-and-on beef between two of rap's dopest crews. (Photos from left: G.O.O.D. Music Records/ Young Money Records)
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"What Happened to That Boy" - Can it be that it was all so simple then? Back in 2002, as one half of the Clipse, Pusha T collaborated with Birdman for their spooky hit "What Happened to That Boy." Lil Wayne even appeared in the video.(Photo: Universal Records)
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Lil Wayne Covers VIBE - In 2006, Lil Wayne appeared on the cover of VIBE wearing an all-over print Bathing Ape hoodie. Up until then, the look had been widely associated with the Clipse and their mentor, Pharrell Williams. But hey, no big deal, right?(Photo: Vibe Magazine)
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"Mr. Me Too" - Later that year, the Clipse and Pharrell unveiled their single "Mr. Me Too," which criticized copycats and biters. The video even featured the titular posers wearing BAPE. Uh-oh.(Photo: Arista Records)
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Lil Wayne Strikes Back in Complex - Weezy took offense to the song in the December 2006 issue of Complex. "I thought the whole 'Mr. Me Too' video was about me, to tell you the damn truth," he said. "They think I want to be like them. I’m on a million-dollar bus going around the world charging people from $50,000 to $150,000 for verses, and I got 77 songs in magazines and I got a billion more. Do the math; you think I’m trying to be like you? No sir...They had to do a song with us to get hot, B. 'What Happened To That Boy?' C’mon, B." (Photo: Complex Magazine)
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The Clipse Respond - The Clipse had some serious pushback in subsequent radio and magazine interviews. "Wayne, you sort of copying The Clipse right now…I think he made a bad judgment call and just decided to take a swipe at us…maybe he’s got an album coming out. This is a small thing to a giant, he’s just acting out," Pusha told Virginia's Hot 102.1 FM. “If anything, I am upset about him using the F word before my name, being as though he likes to sit around and kiss men. If you gonna kiss men, you can’t even use them words in conjunction with The Clipse, Pharrell, or any of the [Star Trak ] family." The Clipse further criticized Wayne and mocked his notoriously, um, affectionate relationship with Baby in a 2007 issue of Laced. (Photo: Roger Kisby/Getty Images for CMJ)
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Lil Wayne and Kanye West Team Up - In the middle of all this tough talk, Kanye, who had not yet signed Pusha T to GOOD Music, was establishing a fruitful working relationship with Weezy. He recruited Wayne to spit on "Barry Bonds," from his 2007 album Graduation, and also produced two tracks on Wayne's 2008 blockbuster Tha Carter III. Later that year, the two appeared with T.I. and Jay-Z on "Swagga Like Us." (Photo: Noel Vasquez/Getty Images)
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Pusha T Signs to GOOD Music - In September 2010, after appearing on Kanye's single "Runaway," Pusha officially signed to his GOOD Music. With Pusha's beef with Weezy seemingly dormant for two years, no one thought the deal would affect Yeezy's relationship with Wayne.(Photos from left: Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic, Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images)
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The Clipse Diss Wayne and Baby on We Got It 4 Cheap Vol. 3 - Meanwhile, the Clipse-Wayne beef spilled over into 2008 when the the Virginia duo sent some not-so-subliminal shots at Weezy and Birdman on the intro to the Re-Up Gang mixtape We Got It 4 Cheap, Vol. 3. "Sorry but I don't respect who you applaudin' / Lil n---a flow but his metaphors boring / Don't make me turn daddy's lil' girl to orphan / That mean I'd have to kill Baby like abortion." (Photo: Re-Up Records)
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Pusha T Extends Olive Branch on "Open Your Eyes" - Now that he was Team Yeezy, Pusha seemed ready to put the beef with Wayne behind him. "“Free Weezy! Congrats my n—a," he rapped on 2011's "Open Your Eyes" shortly after Wayne was released from his Rikers Island bid. In March of that year, Pusha told Complex that he had made peace with Weezy in a face-to-face sit-down in Miami: “Ever since Lil Wayne went in to jail, that whole little stint [between me and him] is really dead and over with." (Photo: Re-Up Records)
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Pusha Pisses Off Drake - Not so fast. The tweets were talking when Pusha spit this October 2011 freestyle over Young Money soldier Drake's "Dreams Money Can Buy": "Rappers on their sophomores, actin’ like they boss lords. Fame such a funny thing for sure when n—as start believing all those encore...The talk don’t match the leather, the swag don’t match the sweaters." Drake seemed a bit miffed when asked about the freestyle by Funkmaster Flex. "I've never really had any interaction with Pusha T. So for him to diss me would be purely issues that he's having with himself," Drake said. "If it's directed at me, just make it a little more direct next time. I'm up for whatever."(Photos from left: Bucci/PictureGroup, Robin Marchant/Getty Images)
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Pusha Drops "Exodus 23:1" - All hell broke loose when Pusha dropped "Exodus 23:1" this past May. The dramatic single contained many eyebrow-raising lines, including: "Contract all f---ed / Explain up I guess that means you all f---ed up / You signed to one ni--- that signed to another ni--- that's signed to three ni--- / Now that's bad luck," which many took as a shot at Drake, who's signed to Weezy's Young Money, which is a subsidiary of Birdman's Cash Money—itself a subsidiary of Universal. (Photo: Re-Up Records)
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Lil Wayne Fires Back With "Ghoulish" - Weezy responded immediately with an incendiary tweet: "F--k Pusha T and anybody that love em." The message turned out to be the first line of "Goulish," a scathing diss track aimed openly at Pusha—no subliminals needed—released in May. In a Funk Flex interview the following month, Pusha called the record "trash," though he also denied "Exodus 23:1" was about Cash Money. (Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images)
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Kid Cudi Jumps In - Cudi unexpectedly joined the fray via his own Twitter mini-rant the same month: "I love my n---a Pusha T, f--k anybody who feel different. We ain't h--s out here." (Photo: Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
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Lil Wayne and Big Sean Collab on "My Homies Still" - Where's the beef? In June, Wayne leaked "My Homies Still," a duet with GOOD Music soldier Big Sean. (Photo: Universal Republic)