Following the release of Drake’s first major, musical introduction, his highly-touted So Far Gone mixtape, the Canadian artist has become well-known for his talents as both a singer and rapper. Despite his ability to tap into both the rap and R&B genres, Drake has also garnered criticism for those qualities.
During his CRWN interview with Elliott Wilson, the Young Money emcee expressed his frustration with those who scrutinize his choice to include both melody-driven records and Hip Hop-heavy songs on his projects. Drake also questioned why rappers are able to incorporate melodies on their records and not draw criticism from others.
In addition to bringing attention to what he feels is a double standard toward his music, Drizzy expressed his desire to blur the lines in music with his newly-released album, Nothing Was The Same.
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“There’s something to be said for—I understand sort of when people start saying that,” Drake said. “When it’s just straight up ballads and it’s music that I’m in love with. I mean, I’ll be honest, there’s times where I feel like I like R&B music better than I like rap music. It’s just sometimes I like listening to it, whether it be classic, whether it be new. It’s just when I find myself having free time, you know, I like melody. And it’s so funny that people scrutinize me so much for melody because then another rapper will go and drop their single and the whole single is melody-driven and that’s okay because he’s allowed to do that and I’m not allowed to do that. It’s just like this crazy double standard that people have for me. But with this album I tried to blur the lines between say a song on the last album like ‘Doing It Wrong,’ which was like straight melody. And it was like straight ballad. It was very slow. It was kinda drawn out. It was like there was a sentiment to it…I try to make even the R&B songs exciting to the point where it’s like ‘Man, this doesn’t even feel like R&B.’”
The Nothing Was The Same crafter didn’t seem terribly concerned with naysayers though as he commented on having enough love from his fans alone when asked about his father’s reaction to the Jhene Aiko-assisted “From Time,” a record featured on his new LP.
“When it comes to somebody like that I’ll never be that guy to him,” Drake said. “I’ll never be the guy that’s aggressive enough. I’ll never be the guy that is rap or Hip Hop enough. And that’s fine. You know, I accept that.
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“Look at this, I have enough love,” added Drake, as he pointed to the audience. “I don’t need everybody’s love. I get it. But it does make me happy that even when there is somebody who can say—‘Man, you know, I’m not a Drake fan, but I gotta say there’s some joints on here.’ But that’s what it’s about man. That’s evolution.”
Lastly, Drizzy addressed his heavy work ethic and his inability to let even a single bar be placed on a song without careful consideration.
“I always wanna outdo myself. I always wanna outdo everybody else around me,” he said. “I’m a very competitive person. I’m just quiet about it…I don’t need to tell you who I’m better than or who I’m trying to be better than. I just wanna put my music out and then you tell me who’s better than. I mean, I leave it up to the people…I try not to sacrifice any bar. I’ll sit there on the last two lines of a verse for three, four days if I need to.”
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Video of Drake’s CRWN interview can be found below (via 2DopeBoyz).
CRWN x Drake, Ep. 1: NWTS, Rivals and Idols from CRWN on Myspace.
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