Gunna Touches on Oakland ‘Pushing P’ Slang Controversy
Written by SOURCE on April 8, 2022
Gunna has doubled down on his claim that “Pushin 🅿️” is universal.
The latest episode of UNINTERRUPTED’s The Shop, the YSL rapper provided a quick definition of the phrase, which was also the title of his Future-assisted track that dropped back in January. Gunna reminded the hosts and his fellow guests that “P” simply meant “player” mentality, and that it was a phrase he frequently heard while growing up in Georgia.
Business mogul Steve Stoute then brought up the controversy surrounding “Pushin 🅿️” and the allegations Gunna had stole the slang from the Bay Area. Gunna was seemingly unbothered by backlash, suggesting the claims only proved that “Pushin’ P” was universal.
“Come to find out, they just come from player shit, too,” he said about his accusers. “That’s all that means. That’s what I took from it like bro, everybody been player. Your uncles, your aunties—they was players.”
During a January interview with Complex, Gunna acknowledged he didn’t create “Pushin 🅿️,” but his track helped introduced the phrase to more people.
“The world is just now catching on because of the song, but Atlanta and LA people who know me know,” he said. “That’s why it hit hard, too, because I really been kicking P outside of music. So when I bring it to music, it’s like, yeah, that’s really him. He ain’t lying.”
Elsewhere in the episode, guest Rick Ross spoke about his decision to go independent and emphasized the importance of an artist owning his/her masters. The conversation then turned to the evolving role of record labels, and how they’re often seen as bad actors. Gunna pushed back on the “fuck labels” mentality, and urged aspiring rappers to look at labels as business partners.
“Like, you shouldn’t say, ‘fuck the label, ’cause they taking the chance on you,” he explained (22:20). “It’s up to you to really make this money back and go make more money. And for all the young artists who are coming up, I want to tell them, ‘Man, don’t look at it like it’s a bad deal. You’re not getting what you want in the beginning […] it can always get better.”
Marketing executive Paul Rivera then turned his direction to Rick Ross, whom he praised for always staying true to himself and refusing to chase fads and vibes.
“Where’s that come from,” Rivera asked.
“It may come from the fact of dealing with being unaccepted so many years before I got on,” Ross said. “… I was ghostwriting and writing and collaborating with others, but I refused to make what was working for them for myself. That wasn’t for me … it took me much longer to get on, but the reward was much greater.”
Ross went on to recall his contribution to “Devil in a New Dress.” He said he had written a verse immediately after he heard the beat, but Kanye West wasn’t impressed, and told him he needed to “go harder.”
“I went back in immediately, right then,” Ross said. “And wrote that verse we heard … He most definitely gonna challenge you.”
You can watch the full episode of The Shop via YouTube above.
