This particular instance would certainly not be the first time pop songs lyrics were widely misheard or misinterpreted, one of the most famous examples being “bathroom on the right” subbing in for “bad moon on the rise” in the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic, “Bad Moon Rising.” Another popular well-known case of misunderstood song words is Jimi Hendrix singing “`scuse me while I kiss this guy,” instead of “kiss the sky” from “Purple Haze,” as Psychology Today explains. And there’s just as much precedent for these kind of mix-up in hip-hop as there is in any other style of music, as Complex reports.
What makes the potential Pusha T and Jay Z situation so tricky, though, is the line really works either way. Selling water to a well or to a whale are both effective metaphors for selling something to someone that they don’t really need. To many Jay Z fans, though, it really stuck out when Pusha T rapped “whale” rather than “well.” One hip-hop journalist, Sowmya Krishnamurthy, counted herself among those who’d heard “well” rather than “whale” since 2001. With a source close to the original Jay Z song, Krishnamurthy asked for clarification and posted what she found out on Twitter.
