Lil Wayne and Pusha T have fans scratching their heads after a clip of them starring in a commercial kicking off the upcoming NFL season surfaced online.
The footage found its way to the internet on Thursday (August 25), showing Weezy and King Push turning up in a gymnasium at an NFL pep rally while Dr. Dre’s “Still D.R.E.” rings off in the background.
The Young Money boss is seen wearing an Aaron Rodgers Green Bay Packers jersey and holding a t-shirt gun while the Clipse member rocks a Tom Brady Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey and riles the crowd up on a microphone.
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Other celebrities that pop up in the commercial are Saweetie, Young Dylan, TikTok/ YouTube star Frankie LaPenna, Buffalo Bills “Mafia” superfan Pinto Ron, pro boxer Ryan Garcia, the Seattle Seahawks’ DK Metcalf, the Los Angeles Chargers’ Derwin James and the New Orleans Saints’ Cam Jordan.
Lil Wayne & Pusha T star in NFL Kickoff teaser ? @LilTunechi@PUSHA_Thttps://t.co/3Yh0bPe0KApic.twitter.com/2iaVZnYu08
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) August 25, 2022
For Hip Hop fans, Wayne and Pusha starring in the same commercial is a sight to see, given their storied rap beef. After the two were seen together in the music video for Clipse’s 2002 track “What Happened To That Boy,” their relationship fell apart.
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Lil Wayne explained during his interview with Drinks Champs in 2020 that he didn’t know where things went sour between him and Push, comparing it to an athlete getting blindsided by the front office with a trade deal.
“I swear to God I don’t, man,” he replied to the Drink Champs hosts, asking if he knew what started it. “I just found out … it was one of those things … you ever see when an athlete gets traded and he don’t know it and he gets traded during a press conference? [Wayne’s friend] was like, ‘What you gonna do? You gonna come back at Pusha?’ I’m like, ‘What you mean? I’d love to do a song with him.’ He like, ‘Nah he dissing you now.'”
Pusha T has never revealed the reasoning behind the friction with Lil Wayne, which caused a bunch of rumors to circulate about how it all went down. One of the biggest involved Japanese fashion designer NIGO’s BAPE clothing brand that Clipse and Pharrell arguably introduced to Hip Hop in the mid-2000s.
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The trio wore BAPE in most of their videos and infused their drug-dealing bars with their uncanny fashion sense. Lil Wayne did something similar when he put out Tha Carter II in 2005, led by the single “Hustler Muzik,” in which he wore a red camo BAPE hoodie.
Rumors swirled again that Clipse was upset with what appeared to be Wayne biting their style, and it didn’t help that they released “Mr. Me Too” in 2006, which featured BAPE clothing and shots aimed at a particular copycat.
During an appearance on Complex’s Full Size Run in 2018, former Young Money artist Currensy joked he might’ve started the beef between Wayne and Push. According to Spitta, he introduced Lil Wayne to various street brands such as BAPE, Billionaire Boys Club and more.
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“I never thought about that until this year,” Currensy said during the episode. “They was mad with that dude for BAPE, and I’m the one who told that dude to get that. So I was like, ‘Don’t be mad,’ like motherfuckers thought shit was dope. [Wayne] wasn’t ignoring their existence, he just did not get it, he didn’t get it from them.”
However, that didn’t stop Pusha T from unleashing the scathing “Exodus 23:1” track in 2012 that dissed Lil Wayne, Birdman, Drake and more. Weezy responded shortly after with “Ghoulish,” leading to Drake taking the reins and going on a full-blown war with Push.
Lil Wayne Admits He Was 'Worried' When 'Tha Carter' Dropped
As of press time, it’s unclear whether Push or Wayne are still beefing, actual friends or just don’t care about each other anymore. Neither party has spoken on their inclusion in the new NFL commercial, nor have they said anything about each other since Wayne mentioned their fractured relationship on Drink Champs.
