Rap-A-Lot Records founder J. Prince continued the promotional run for his memoir, The Art & Science of Respect, with a stop by Hot 97’s Ebro In The Morning on Tuesday (June 5). During the interview, the conversation naturally turned to his role in the Drake and Pusha T beef.
Although Prince has said he told Drake not to respond to Pusha’s diss “The Story Of Adidon,” he claims Kanye West is the one who first wanted to put a stop to the beef.
The longtime Hip Hop executive spoke about his interactions with West, revealing that Yeezy called him before tweeting about ending the feud. He also noted ties to the G.O.O.D. Music boss through producer Mike Dean, who was one of Rap-A-Lot’s main producers in the 90s and 2000s.
“This something Kanye didn’t want,” Prince said. “He called me. This is something he didn’t want. Before [he tweeted about it], he let me know, ‘I’m a family man. I don’t want this.’ So, with me, one of my guys named Mike Dean works with Kanye. With me analyzing the whole pie, I’m like, “Hey, why say these things that about to be said and destroy this man’s livelihood?”
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Prince was then asked if Drake recorded a diss track with Lil Wayne, a rumor that surfaced over the last week.
“I can’t speak for the Lil Wayne song, but I do know Drake was moving forward by himself,” he said before acknowledging he never heard a Drake diss at all, just the “ingredients” of it.
Later in the conversation, Prince detailed his role in Drake’s life. Many fans and observers have been confused about the extent of their connection, which dates back to Prince’s son Jas discovering the OVO star on MySpace.
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“Drake is like my adopted son,” he explained. “Of course, Jas Prince brought him into Houston, discovered him. My son was on tour with Lil Wayne, and I called him one day. And I’m like, ‘Hey, I don’t want you out there hanging on tour like you a fan and come home with no money. Tell Wayne you wanna start a record label. You got $1 million, you wanna start the record label, you need a partner. He called me back. Wayne was in agreement with that.”
He continued, “I said, ‘Who’s your first artist? He mentioned Drake. Said, ‘Lemme hear him.’ He played me some things. I wasn’t feeling it. I wasn’t feeling Drake in the beginning. I’m like, ‘Man, you like this?’ He like, ‘Daddy, this is the new sound.’ I’m like, ‘Where he from?’ He said, ‘Canada.’ I’m like, ‘Aw, Canada.’ So, I called some homies from Canada to check and see if the buzz was real ’cause my son used the word buzz. I taught him about a buzz in Rap-A-Lot marketing meetings since he was [a child]. So, he got my attention with that lingo. And true enough, it was a real buzz. I said, ‘Let’s bring him in.'”
Check out the full interview with Prince above.
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