Rap Radar gave the Hip Hop world a priceless gift on Christmas Day: a two-hour interview with rap superstar Drake. Over the course of 120 minutes, Aubrey Graham waxed poetic on everything from his humble beginnings, to Young Money, to his current brouhahas, Drake has grown above and beyond his image as the youngest buck in the stable. His flashpoint album, Scorpion, is also at the top of his mind and factored frequently into different conversational tangents.
But there were other things he revealed to journalists Elliott Wilson and Brian “B. Dot” Miller. Let’s look at the five biggest revelations from Drake’s Rap Radar interview.
His Inspirations
While it may seem obvious that Drake was inspired by his Young Money compatriots, he also drew inspiration from other places, as well. He cited the classic 50 Cent song, “21 Questions,” as one of his favorite songs growing up. He also cited T-Pain and Tory Lanez as notable for their work ethic, and even tipped his hat to the likes of YNW Melly and Trippie Redd.
His Songwriting
Drake is not immune to the criticisms surrounding his songwriting. And, yes, he’s aware of the “ghostwriting” accusations. But he made clear, once and for all, that he, and only he, is responsible for the greatness that is his music. (He also said that he wasn’t a fan of people saying that his music is “trash” and called the comments “hurtful.”)
“I Don’t Make Music For Dusty Guys.”
Yes, he’s heard you. Yes, he knows you think he’s soft. No, he doesn’t care. “I was never affected by the criticisms, of being accused of being “soft,” he said, adding that he makes music for girls, not “dusty guys.” Specifically, of course, the “dusty guys” is a reference to men that embrace toxic masculinity just a little too much, which could be used to describe 75% of the men in Hip Hop today.
What’s Beef?
For all the accusations of being “soft,” Drake doesn’t seem to be shying away from beef these days. Yes, he and Meek Mill squashed their beef — for which he humbly thanks Serena Williams (“And you know she’s [Serena Williams] a top competitor. So, she was like, ‘You gotta finish it. I’m talking about done. Over. It’s gotta be something that everyone that he’s with and him have to hear…’ She kind of put this battery in my back.”) — but his beefs with Kanye and Pusha T rage on. And while he ponders the possibility of mending fences with the Jesus is Born orchestrator (“It’s just not on my end. I have no problem with any of these guys, I don’t even know these guys like that.”), he has no desire to do so with Pusha T (“The situation just went where it went and there is no turning back, it’s not like those other situations that you mention. I sleep well at night knowing I didn’t get out-barred… It was just, you know, he told the world that the biggest artist at the time has a kid that he hasn’t told you about. I knew kind of, for me, it was over at that point. It wasn’t even about battle rap.”).
He’s Not A Culture Vulture.
Drake has certainly been more prone to injecting Afro-Caribbean beats into his music, and adopting a Jamaican patois-like twang as of late. Despite this, he insists he’s not a culture vulture. “Appropriating is taking it for your own personal gain and denying that it was ever inspired from this. That’s the true disservice that somebody could do to the UK, to dancehall, to afrobeat. Me, I’ve always … I ensure that not only paying all due respects verbally but … I make it a point to give opportunity,” he said.
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No need to defend yourself. The naive hipsters of today are too ignorant to know KRS-One faked a Jamaican accent for classics like Bridge is Over and Black Cop but was never called a “culture vulture“. These kids don’t know that while Ice Cube wrote for Dre, his cousin, Del wrote for Ice Cube too. They don’t know Q-Tip wrote whole songs for Phife Dawg. That Paris wrote for Chuck D. That Run DMC wrote a whole song for the Beastie Boys. That Jungle and Stic.man wrote for Nas and that Jay lifted barrels of Biggie bars on many of his most popular classics too. They don’t even know Black Sheep talked about “engine number 9 on the New York transit line” but they were actually from the South and faked their New York accents. But most of all they don’t know that all the greats were both loved and hated in their prime including Biggie, 2pac, Elvis, The Beatles, Eminem and James Brown. Just like being accused of having a ghostwriter, it’s simply the right of passage for great artists. The greats are always polarizing in their prime and inspire the extremes of both idol worship and life-threatening disdain. Usually loved by kids under 20 and hated by older music nerds over 30 who incapable of growing past the sound of music they grew up with. Your legacy will be fine. Keep pushing the envelope.
your life must suck to write a whole essay defending drake on a hip hop website lol a lot of good rappers dont use a ghost writer period and a lot of good rappers who act hard dont lie and actually come from a neighborhood like forest hill, toronto. drake went to an all white high school. you and many others might look past it, but i dont. im in my early 20s too. you look like an idiot haha
You do realize that you just wrote an essay yourself, makes you no different from this stick rider either.
you do realize that my reply was 1/4th of what he wrote. mine was paragraph. his comment is an essay. go turn on some drake and sing along while you put your makeup on. k thx. try again
This guy acts like Drake’s legacy is still intact. Haven’t talked to one person who can take the guy seriously in a long time. Drake is your girlfriend’s favorite rapper.
Drake is your drama queen/emotionally twisted girlfriends favorite rapper. I know plenty of good girls that think hes a sissy.
Drake is a crybaby/sissy who makes terrible emo rap. He is a hack who cant flow and has terrible lyrics. No matter how much you defend him, that’ll never change. Drake is a joke
Drake will never be in my top 10 rappers but I do think he’s a lot more real than most rappers today.
Real? I think you mean really feminine.
He must be devastated
Drake has the face of a midget especially without the beard hahah
Drake – “I pulled my weight when it came to my pen…anybody that know me knows that my strongest talent is writing.” HAHAHAHA
Oh man. That’s like Kanye saying hes a good Christian or Trump saying hes honest.
Hands down the softest interview of all time
Hahahaha he didn’t get out barred by Pusha T he is right. He got flat out served and put on notice. Blessings to him though hopefully he makes positive moves and more interesting music in 2020.
Nah, he’s a culture vulture and a fake. This generation’s Milli Vanili. In his latest song he says he’s got packs coming, and that he used to do it with the mask and the AK. LOL. He might get realest nigga tatted on his face BTW.
You are a dusty nigga…hungry bitch
You are a dusty nigga…hungry bitch
Nice retort. LOL. I can tell you are an educated person, and definitely know a lot about this music genre. Let me guess, you’ve got packs coming and used to wrk with the AK, in Canada with an ex C.O., then got “realest nigga, eh hoser?” Tatted in your face, so that shut isn’t funny? LOL I put on tons of lotion, and eat really well. Hahahahaha. Thanks for you’re concern I guess?
Questions they didn’t ask. I’ll type one for each comment. 1. If he’s basically saying that he doesn’t use ghostwriters, then why did he try to excuse himself for using Quentin miller in the duppy freestyle?
2. Taking into account what he said about not believing Pusha T’s music, who he makes for, and not being a culture vulture, then why should he be excused for doing blackface especially after his reason as to why he did it?
3. Did the info about drake’s kid really come from OVO 40
4. What was that whole thing about apparently have a diss track that would’ve ended Kanye and Pusha as well as if he actually put out $100,000 on info about Pusha T?
if they did ask him these questions, then let me know the answers
These cornballs never ask drake’s weak ass anything real. It’s a symbiotic relationship where fake artists and fake media ecploit what was once a promising culture.