Pusha T is coming back at McDonald’s with extra beef. The rap icon says he only received one check for writing the McDonald’s long-running “I’m Lovin’ It,” jingle, and he’s now out for revenge with the new Arby’s cut, “Spicy Fish Diss.”
The actual credit for “I’m Lovin’ It,” is famously disputed. When the song first appeared in a 2003 commercial, Justin Timberlake sang the hook and Pusha T rapped, while Pharrell Williams, Tom Batoy, Franco Tortora, and Andreas Forberger received credit for writing the tune. But in 2016, marketing CEO Steve Stoute revealed that Clipse — Pusha T and his brother No Malice — were the authors of that irresistible, “Ba da ba ba ba.”
Pusha T agrees. “I am solely responsible for the ’I’m Lovin‘ It’ swag and the jingle of that company,” he told Rolling Stone. “That’s just real. I am the reason.”
“I’m Lovin’ It,” has become the longest-running marketing campaign in McDonald’s 82-year history, and while Pusha T claims he was paid $500,000 for the tune, with every passing year he regrets his contract more.
“I did it at a very young age at a very young time in my career where I wasn’t asking for as much money and ownership,” he said. “It’s something that’s always dug at me later in life like, ‘Dammit, I was a part of this and I should have more stake.’ It was like half a million, or a million dollars for me and my brother — but that’s peanuts for as long as that’s been running. I had to get that energy off me, and this [ad] was the perfect way to get that energy like, ‘You know what? I’m over it.’”
In “Spicy Fish Diss,” Pusha T raps over an ominous beat perfect for clowning on Ronald McDonald. Some of the lyrics are clearly meant for a commercial context, such as, “Filet-o-Fish is shit/ And you should be disgusted/ How dare you sell a square fish/ And ask us to trust it?” But other lines are classics from the coke-rap crusher. He spits, “I could sell water to a whale/ How could you ever think I’d fail?” Check out “Spicy Fish Diss,” as well as Pusha T’s original ad for McDonald’s, below.
This is the rapper’s first diss track since 2019’s The Story of Adidon, in which he revealed Drake’s secret son.
Just dropped a diss track with @Arbys. Grab some popcorn and a Spicy Fish Sandwich. #ArbysSpicyFishDissTrack #ArbysPaidMeButIWouldSayThisAnyway pic.twitter.com/dzTuBlM9Ok
— King Push (@PUSHA_T) March 21, 2022
