Get ready for the biggest shock of your lives, Big Mac fans: the ubiquitous McDonald’s (ba-da-ba-ba-ba) “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle was written by none other than Pusha T, who, if you’ve suddenly forgot, is also a rapper who recently released the great and ambitious King Push – Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude. But he’s now also the dude confirmed to be the writer of “I’m Lovin’ It”! What could be more important than that?
The news comes by way of Hot 97’s Ebro Darden (via Pitchfork), who interviewed Steve Stoute, the CEO of the marketing firm Translation. That firm’s first client was McDonald’s, and the result was the Pusha T jingle. (They’ve also worked on State Farm Insurance, so look out for breaking Pusha T-related news there.) During the interview, Ebro asks Stoute if the jingle was written by Pharrell, as had been popularly believed; Stoute corrects him, saying that it was Pusha T. Stoute, recognizing the importance of his statement, follows it up with, “That’s crazy that Pusha T wrote the song for McDonald’s!”
Unfortunately, the point of the interview was not the McDonald’s song, but a new site that Stoute is involved with, called the Stashed. This means that there are no crazy stories about the actual recording of the song. It’s a real bummer, which I am not loving. There’s also a story tucked in there about Nas writing songs for Will Smith, but it doesn’t have anything to do with Men in Black, so who cares.
Anyway, watch the revelation below — it begins at the 3-minute mark. And then listen to the song, maybe grab a milkshake, maybe grab some McNuggets, or not. Whatever.
Here are some “I’m Lovin’ It” commercials from around the world. As Stoute points out, this jingle was the first to be used in consistently throughout all of McDonald’s markets.