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Even when he’s not dropping new records or albums, Drake continues to be one of the most talked about and revered artists in music. Although he’s kept it rather lowkey in 2019, he’s still considered by many to be the man currently occupying the throne.
In his first in-depth interview in a hot minute, the King of The North sits down with veteran Hip-Hop journalists Elliott Wilson and Brian B-Dot Miller in his brand spankin’ new castle in Toronto and opens up about damn near everything we’ve been wondering for years.
Touching on every topic from how his beef with Meek Mill might’ve actually started to Quentin Miller’s involvement in his work to why he hid his baby from the world, Drake keeps it 1000 on any and everything that’s asked of him.
Here are the 12 things we learned from Drake on Rap Radar.
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Drake says when he first came into the game and signed with Lil Wayne, his initial goal was to be a “protégé who didn’t flop” and be as “remotely important as my mentor.” Once Wayne got locked up he felt obligated to take the Young Money label on his shoulders and carry it as far as he could till Wayne came home. Needless to say, he exceeded expectations.
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Before dropping “Best I Ever Had,” Drake admits that he felt “Uptown” was going to be his breakout record and wanted to release that one first. It was Rich Paul who convinced him that the R&B record was “the one.” This is an example of the importance of not surrounding yourself with “yes men” in the music game. Speaking of “yes men…”
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Drake admits to being a “very insecure person when it comes to my music” and doesn’t mind constructive criticism from everyone from his peers to the people in his inner circle. That being said when people criticize his work on social media he does say it’s “hurtful” at times especially when he knows he comes from a place of simple hate.
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As far as for his singing/rapping style, Drake credits 50 Cent’s “21 Questions” for first inspiring him to get on the harmonically rapping on a record type steez. Ja Rule somewhere feeling a tad bit salty about that.
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For those wondering about whether he feels a ways about being light skinned, Canadian and Jewish in the rap game, he does give thanks to “People that I look up to and respect tell me that I can’t identify with what’s going on.” He does admit he’s not exactly the most politically driven person in the game, but Lord knows if he was to badmouth the current Racist-In-Chief who’s also known for being anti-semitic, Drake might find himself banned from the United States and labeled a threat to national security.
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Touching on the criticism he took for having Quentin Miller help him pen a few cuts back in the day, Drake says he’s “made peace” with how his legacy will be viewed from here on out based off that and he has no regrets going that route as he’s known for his pen himself. “I put work in. People know me. I’m good for it. So that’s why I’m never really stressed about that narrative.”
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Reflecting on where his beef with Meek Mill might’ve started, Drake feels is stems from a show in Philly where he says Meek thought he’d be joined by Drizzy, but didn’t he show up. “I think that being coupled with whatever conversations were happening amongst him and his lady and him maybe getting this idea that I don’t f*ck with him or whatever.” That being said, Drake says “Charged Up” was a record to see “if it was real” and what Meek might’ve had in the chamber for Drake or if Mill was just in his emotions at the time. Then when it came time to laydown “Back to Back,” Drake says his wifey at the time, Serena Williams, “put the battery in my back” and told him if he was going to drop another one that he had to “finish it.” Who knew Serena was the voice in Mortal Kombat all these years? Luckily for the culture, Drake and Meek mended their differences and Drizzy admits “Meek ain’t no punk.”
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Pusha meanwhile is another story as Drake says he has no desire to “mend anything with that person.” He will admit that he’d “tip my hat to the chess move” of Pusha revealing he had a secret child. “It was a genius play in the game of chess, and definitely warranted my first “loss” in the competitive sport of rapping.” Though Drake decided to bow out that battle, he says it doesn’t bother him because Pusha didn’t “outbar” him or drop a crazy dope record, but that revealing the biggest rapper in the game had a child no one knew about was enough of a nuclear bomb to get the job done. That being said he does confirm he laid down a response track to Pusha’s “Story of Adidon”, but that he felt it was just too ugly to release and didn’t know how he’d feel about dropping it in a few years.
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As for why Drake didn’t come out to the world as Rap’s newest baby daddy, Drake says it had nothing to do with any adidas campaign, but that at the time he was awaiting a DNA test to confirm whether or not he was the father. Weirdly enough the results of the test got ruined in transit and they couldn’t tell 100% whether or the kid was Drizzy’s. It actually took two more tests with two more companies for Drake to finally find out that he had a son.
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Talking about Kanye West, Drake feels his drama with Pusha is rooted in Yeezy’s animosity towards him. “I think that [Kanye] definitely recruited a guy with dislike for me, no matter what he says in interviews,” Drake bluntly states. “There’s something there that bothers him deeply and yeah, I can’t fix it for him. It just is what it is.” Still, even with all that Drake still considers Kanye West one of his favorite artists in the game.
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Drake credits Rihanna’s absence in both he and Chris Brown’s life with he and Brown being able to get over their drama and get on with their professional lives. Though he was scared Riri might feel a ways about Drake working with Chris, he felt she was a good enough person to want to see them squash their beef.
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At the Tyler, The Creation show where he got booed, Drake says he felt something was off even before he hit the stage when the crowd weren’t letting Uzi do his thing. He knew it was because the fans didn’t get Frank Ocean, but still tried to rock out. He didn’t. They wouldn’t let him. Because of that he “took it with grace” and left the stage before he was supposed to because he didn’t want things to get too ugly out there. Smart move, b.
