Tonight, Drake conducted an extensive interview with DJ Semtex on his OVO Sound radio show on Beats 1. Recorded on Monday, February 13, the Canadian artist addressed a slew of topics, including his album Views, the first time he experienced racism, the Grammys, the story behind why Kanye West and Jay Z didn’t make it to the final version of “Pop Style,” his love of grime, and much more. In a notable segment, Semtex asked Drake about how it felt when Meek Mill initially fired shots at him over accusations of ghostwriting. Drake called Mill’s decision to start beef “terrible” and “impulsive,” saying, “My mind was going a thousand miles a minute, I didn’t know who was going to be on a diss track or what he had ready. I thought this was three months in the making. When I dropped ‘Charged Up,’ just to kinda see what the preparation level was, I realized—oh wow you’re not ready.”
After explaining how his subsequent diss track “Back to Back” was created, Drake continued to reveal more about his feelings on the beef. “I respect revenge when it’s warranted. It’s not something that I’m proud of because it took just as much of an emotional toll on me—maybe not as much as it did on him—but you always gotta hear about it... and just seeing people get so riled up on negativity, it doesn’t feel great... It was just embarrassing to witness, you know? If he had revealed some huge thing, you know, you woulda heard a lot more people, peers of mine chime in.”
When asked about his brushes with racism, Drake talked about the recent Grammy awards (which he did not attend). “Even though ‘Hotline Bling’ is not a rap song... the only category they can manage to fit me in is a rap category,” he said. “Maybe because I’ve rapped in the past or because I’m black, I can’t figure out why... I won two awards last night—but I don’t even want them, because it just feels weird for some reason.”
Then, he revealed that he was pitched by the award show to cancel two of his London shows to attend the ceremony, an offer that he turned down. “We’ve been conditioned to think that this is the true award for our accomplishments,” he said. “All I’m saying is, to kids that will be coming up in the future that might not get championed: that’s okay too. You’re dealing with a bunch of people that are just people, at the end of the day.”
While Drake’s next “playlist” project More Life still does not have an official release date, he explain the project’s concept, describing it as an “evolution” of the mixtape format and comparing it to an OVO Sound radio show “but every song is a new Drake song.” Check out the full transcript of the interview over on DJ Semtex’s website.
