Pusha T has quite an interesting history in Hip Hop — a history that includes writing some jingles for famous fast-food chains.
Here’s the scoop: back in 2003, when Clipse was still in its prime, the Virginia native teamed up with his brother (and fellow Clipse member) No Malice to write the infamous “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle for McDonald’s. While the pair did receive some money, they certainly didn’t feel they were appropriately compensated — especially once it was revealed that Justin Timberlake got a check for $6 million to record the hit.
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But fast forward to March 2022, and Pusha T got the last laugh from the “one-time fee, no royalties” deal he signed with McDonald’s for their longest-running ad campaign in history by recording a jingle for Arby’s.
The jingle, called the “Spicy Fish Diss Track,” featured the “The Story of Adidon” rapper ethering the life out of McDonald’s.
“I’m the reason the whole world love it,” he raps. “Now I gotta crush it/Filet-O-Fish is shit and you should be disgusted/How dare you sell a square fish asking us to trust it/A half slice of cheese, Mickey D’s on a budget? Arby’s Crispy Fish is simply it/With lines ’round the corner we might need a guest list/Exit stage left the sandwiches taste fresh/A little cube of fish from a clown is basic.”
Most amazingly of all, though, Pusha T still gets royalty checks from Arby’s — for using a small sample of a song he recorded years ago in a current ad campaign.
That’s the scoop dropped by Steven Victor in an interview with Idea Generation, which dropped on Monday (June 19). Victor, a former GOOD MUSIC executive who frequently worked closely with Pusha T throughout his career, revealed that he felt it was one of his best business ideas.
“I think convincing Pusha to rap on Yogi’s beat, and it ended up being the theme song for Arby’s,” he said, smiling. (Victor is referring to the song “Burial” by Yogi, which features Pusha T.)
When the interviewer (veteran journo Noah Callahan-Bever) seemed a bit confused, Victor explained it further.
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“If you watch an Arby’s commercial — at the end of it, it goes, ‘Arby’s — we have the meats,'” he explained. “That’s the song! They don’t even use Pusha’s part. But they have to pay him, because he owns 50 percent of the song. So, every time they want to sync the song, they have to come to us for approval.”
As of this writing, Arby’s has been using the song sample for seven years and counting. But it’s unclear how much Pusha T has made, to date, in royalties.
