In the latest issue of Complex Magazine, Drake describes his somewhat competitive relationship with other newcomers in rap music, addresses the hate aimed towards the Kanye-directed video “Best I Ever Had,” and expresses his loyalty towards Lil Wayne and Young Money. The young rapper said that during his initial rise in popularity, he perceived peer Kid Cudi as one of his biggest rivals.
“When you’re coming up, and you’re in competition with somebody, it’s always hard to have a friendship,” he told the magazine. “I think Cudi and I are realizing that we don’t threaten each other. It’s ended up being one of the greatest industry friendships I have.” Drake cited North Carolina native J. Cole as one rapper he may have to watch out for. “I’m at the starting line. Those guys are at home, putting on their tracksuits, getting ready to make their attack. When J. Cole gets it super-right, I think he’s gonna have a place as a Nas-type character who really stands for hip-hop, but still makes ill records that everybody fucks with.”
Although the Toronto rapper has expressed confidence in his abilities as an emcee, he admitted that the criticism directed towards his debut video “Best I Ever Had,” may not have been totally off-base. “You can do something you believe in and people will still say, ‘This shit is terrible!’ But I still believe in Kanye’s vision. Maybe we didn’t do a great job with getting the point across–it was supposed to be a humorous video. When I read the comments, I was like, ‘Man, I guess no one wants to laugh anymore.’ Everybody wants the fairy tale, you know?”
However, the rapper did not give any credence to criticism that he may have made the wrong decision in joining Lil Wayne’s Young Money Record Label. “Everyone seems to have a comment for me about Young Money. [They say], ‘Fuck Young Money,’ or ‘Why are you with them?’ But what people have to understand is maybe there was a way for me to be successful without Young Money. But we’ll never know. My loyalty is to Wayne, and that goes for anybody who genuinely believes in me. We don’t have the most personal relationship where we hang out every day or we talk that much, but Wayne’s admiration and respect goes without being verbally said. He put his neck out there for me at a very early stage, and those actions tell me everything I need to know about how he feels about me as an artist.”
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Throughout the interview, Drake also talks about his previous leg injury, his verse on “Forever,” the content of his upcoming album Thank Me Later, and more.
