Drake Talks ‘More Life,’ Kanye’s Rant, Quentin Miller, Meek Mill & More

Episode 38 of OVO Sound Radio aired on Apple Music’s Beats 1 airwaves on Saturday night (Feb. 18).

Drake was the interviewee in this episode and he spoke on various topics. He has stated he has distanced himself from Kanye West after his tirade about Drake and DJ Khaled being all over radio. His feud with Meek Mill and the issue with Quentin Miller was discussed as well.

ALSO CHECK OUT THE INTERVIEW SECTION

Who’s Quentin Miller? Quentin Miller – Quentin Miller is a kid that I was introduced to through Boi1da – me and Boi1da were working on a project at the time and I’d said to him “I wanna do a mixtape, I wanna do it quick, I wanna surprise people” and I want him to executive produce it. And we were working, we were going through the motions of building a project and he was like “Yo I got this kid and sometimes I send him beats and he just cooks up ideas” and he’s like “yo his ideas aren’t shit they’re good, they need work but they’re good”. So yeah at the time I was like dope lets collaborate, line it up you know. And yeah I started working with this kid and we ended up doing five songs together in total a few of which were on that project and a few that just made their way out. He was a guy I collaborated on music with and I’m proud to sit in front of you and say that you know. That is what I do, that is what I’m known for, I go and write for other people, I write my biggest songs, my biggest hits, the massive majority of my catalogue has all been written solely by me. Meek Mill at the time due to some issue with Nicki whatever, decided to create a narrative that I don’t write my own music because that was what was convenient at the time and he caught wind of it. It’s unfortunate too because Quentin was being managed by Dj Drama and Don Ken who ended up really fucking his shit up because they were just like really messy with the shit, unnecessarily. But he decided to create this narrative that I don’t write my own music. The reason why I never felt like necessarily pressured to sit down and defend myself right away or go do an interview is just because I mean anybody that was in those rooms, that worked on that project, or anybody that’s been in any room with me, period, knows first of all knows that I am one of the best writers period. That is what I do, that is what I’m known for, I go and write for other people, I write my biggest songs, my biggest hits, the massive majority of my catalogue has all been written solely by me, which is a big feat because music is a collaborative process. At that given time with those isolated records, they just wouldn’t be what they were if it wasn’t for me, if it wasn’t for my pen, my contributions to that, and not taking away from him, we did great work together in a very small space. Yeah it really just kind of blossomed into this thing where I became the poster child for ghost writing. Which is a huge conversation now in music and if I was like a evil spirit, if I had a different agenda, I could sit here and tell you how this shit really works. I could sit here and tell you ten, twenty people who are worse than me, that literally take everything as it’s just a verbatim process. But I’m not like that, when my peers get a record, I’m happy it’s great, doesn’t matter where it comes from, I don’t care. But for me it was a big deal because it just wasn’t the truth, you know but like I said if I have to be the poster child for it, if you choose to after finding out about that situation, discredit my entire catalogue, or my career, you were gonna discredit me anyway so you may as well just go for it. I’ve come to peace with that but yeah I really, when it came to that whole writing situation I never felt the urge to defend myself because if you ask about any of the biggest Drake records ever, I’ve done them all and if you ask about those Quentin Millers sessions I was there, I was working. There would be no 2nd half of ‘Know Yourself’ and the bars wouldn’t be as good if it wasn’t for me, on any of those songs. We sit down and talk about cadences and we talk about which lines to do and that’s just what a collaborative experience is, and if people are that naïve and they think that that doesn’t go on in music, then you’re outta your mind. But because it was me, it was the first chink in my armour, that people were like “oh oh oh we got him!”. It really made me realise how deep this shit really goes, because there were like these references from our sessions when we’d worked together, no context to those references at all but they existed you know. That taught me a valuable lesson as well, which is just like “man I can’t trust anybody, you can’t leave this studio with nothing”. Like I said it was really DJ Drama that got a call from somebody higher up, at that time, he just didn’t have the backbone to say no to this person and he was like “yo my man’s getting roasted, you gotta give him some ammo, we gotta keep Drake down” and that is when I realised how deep this shit really is. Yeah that whole situation it was what it was and I can sit here now and you can interview Meek and you can ask him if it was worth it and I bet he’ll tell you no! Like my mind was going a thousand miles a minute, I’m thinking this thing goes so high up that I’m about to see the craziest shit I’ve ever seen. How did it feel to see it play it out with Meek? I mean it’s just a pattern in my career. There’s just this one sided switch that happens with people, I don’t know you can ask me about a bunch of people in this interview and you can literally ask me what my problem is with them and I’ll tell you I don’t have one. I watched him say that it was about, posting an album or some show I found out about the day before that I couldn’t get to in time, it’s not about any of that. When somebody makes a decision to say alright ‘everybody’s supporting this guy, maybe I should be the guy to go against him’, or they just have a series of events that gets them aggravated enough to do that, that’s what happens you know and unfortunately on display for the world, that was a terrible impulsive decision because you weren’t ready and in my mind I study the game and not only that but I’m a very calculated thinker and I’m sitting here thinking you’re ready for it. Like my mind was going a thousand miles a minute, I’m thinking this thing goes so high up that I’m about to see the craziest shit I’ve ever seen. I didn’t know who was gonna be on a diss track with him, or what he had ready, I thought that this was like three months in the making and I’m just getting blind sided. And then when I dropped ‘Charged Up’ just to see…. just to kinda see what the preparation level was, I realised, I was like “Wow you’re not ready” this was just emotions about something, I don’t even know what it was. But this, this is just your emotion. Ok now.. that was just the moment, I remember I was in the studio and I was working on some beat and I knew I had to do something, I knew I had to retaliate, because I realised that he was unprepared and when you realise some ones unprepared you have to strike. I was in the studio and it was some kind of rap beat, I probably would’ve gone like eighty bars on it, and somebody that’s very important to me said to me “listen if you’re gonna do this, this next move, you have to finish this forever and he has to live with this forever, that means he has to hear it all the time, it can’t be some…” Who said that? I can’t say, but its great advice though, a true champion said it though its not one of my friends, like a real person that goes to war and wins all the time, like a true champion you know. And that’s when I switched it around, that was like around midnight and this kid walked in the studio for the first time, and he played a beat and the beat was too slow and I told ‘40’ – “Man I like the drums, speed it up like about 15 bpm” and when he sped it up he just sped the whole beat up, he didn’t just speed the whole drums up. And that’s when I heard [hums the beat] and I was like oh man, I was like alright this is it and by 4.30 in the morning, the record was out and that was pretty much it, it was over. ‘Back to Back’ was brutal, line for line you made it a club classic… You know what the biggest thing was because I don’t have real hatred for him, the key was like… first of all my biggest focus the entire time was I cannot disrespect Nicki Minaj or use Nicki Minaj in any way other than to lift her up, that’s just not in my character. I didn’t go the route of calling him a bunch of terrible names, I just used wit, I just used wit and good writing, ironically enough great writing, to just win that situation. Obviously yeah the beat was perfect because it lived in the club, it didn’t live.. and it wasn’t like you listen to it two times and you dismiss it, nah people have to like.. DJ’s have to take a hit when you’re hosting a party and you can’t play the biggest record of the night because you’re standing there. It hurt and I wanted it to hurt, I really did, because it wasn’t just like.. man I can take a lot of things, a lot of criticism, a lot of negativity, people say terrible things about me and that’s fine. That is just unfortunately this very sad generation that we live in where people get off on bullying people on the internet. So I can take all that but man you really tried to like… and man, you know how good I am at writing music but you really tried to not only spin the entire narrative of my career, but like end my life and take food from my family and really try and end it all and you didn’t even do it through music, you just talked or tweeted, it was like sickening to me. I had to really get revenge on that situation, like I said I respect revenge when its warranted and that was just warranted and it was what it was and it’s not something that I’m proud of because it took just as much of an emotional toll on me, I mean not as much as it did on him, but it took an emotional toll on me, it was just a lot, you always gotta hear about it, even just seeing people get so riled up off negativity. It didn’t feel great, it just was what had to happen at the time. It hurt and I wanted it to hurt, I really did, because it wasn’t just like.. man I can take a lot of things, a lot of criticism, a lot of negativity, people say terrible things about me and that’s fine. Yeah I guess that’s just kinda rap is a sport, and finally, I’ve always said the problem with rap is we never have a trophy at the end of the year, or any stats to prove, but finally I had a clear win. That was the only part about it that felt good, ah I finally got to compete when I was doubted and win. That was pretty much the only positive of it, but the rest of it was just all trash man, it was just embarrassing to witness you know. If he had revealed some huge thing, you would have heard a lot more people, like peers of mine chime in. I mean I think every single person that I’ve ever worked with or shared studio time with, knows how hard I work man and to try and discredit me for that, its just crazy, that’s just what I’m known for that’s just what I do. Jay-Z and Nas, they said some savage things about each other, and it had been brewing for years, back to back there had been a lot of subliminals that was going on. Now they’re friends, now they work together, do you ever think you’ll see a situation where like that with yourself and Meek where time heels old wounds? Well Jay Z and Nas said some crazy shit about each other, they went really deep and personal, our thing wasn’t that bad. You know that’s just not somebody I ever really wanna be friends with, you know I think Jay-Z has a mutual respect for Nas, I just really don’t have that level of respect for him because of his actions. So I’m not really looking to be friends, or be cordial, for example I have respect for Ross because I have a history with Ross, with Meek I did a lot of things, I put you on your first tour, I flew to Philly to shoot the ‘Amen’ video with you. I was always there, I was always supportive and you just chose to flip. So you know it’s like I have no desire to.. it’s over lets go with life… I mean even out here I don’t perform ‘Back to Back’. Its something that happened, it is what it is and unfortunately for him its part of history, rap history but at the end of the day its really something that’s over and done with and I’m not tryna make any songs or be like boys or any of that shit. I’m good, I’m great, I’m happy with my friends, I’m happy doing my music over here and it doesn’t need to go anywhere from here, because we look stupid if we keep it going but it’s just like yeah. All blessings to Jay and Nas for coming together after all those years and I can’t predict what’s going to happen in the future, but right now nah I’m good – just be over there, I’ll be over here – that’s it.

1. Dr. Dre wrote Drake a $10,000 check. Drake talked about his rise to fame and detailed the relationships he has built since then. Notably, the rapper recounted a time when Dr. Dre gave him a $10,000 check and he remembered it as "the most money I'd ever had in my life." In his joy of receiving that paycheck, he blew off a project and promptly was "sent home." 2. Drake contemplated on taking all the rap out of Views. Drake revealed he contemplated taking all the raps out of Views and keep it "melodic." However he kept them in because "I know my fan base, I know why I'm here." He added that he also believes Views was an important cultural work and said, "whether people want to admit it or not, the influence [Views] has directly had on music is evident." 3. Drake says he feels "racism" within the Grammy's. Speaking on the Grammys, Drake said that he should've been nominated for Best Pop artist over Best Rap artist. He said "One Dance" is a pop song and should've been nominated in the pop category. "I write pop songs for a reason. I wanna be like Michael Jackson, I wanna be like artists I look up to. Those are pop songs, but I never get credit for that." He also agreed that he definitely feels "racism" within that institution, and insinuated that politics might have some influence behind who wins. He explained that after he declined the Grammy's invitation to the show, someone responded via text: "I got a text back that said, "Blame it on Donald Trump." 4. Drake does not want to be Meek Mill's friend. Drake then spent a long time discussing his relationship with Meek Mill. Addressing Meek Mill's accusations that Drake didn't write his own songs, Drake said, "I am one of the best writers. Period." Discussing "Back To Back," Drake said very plainly, "I respect revenge when it's warranted." Semtex asked if Drake and Meek's relationship may heal with time, using Jay-Z and Nas' relationship as example. Drake responded: "I'm not looking to be friends with someone like that. Jay-Z has respect for Nas, I don't have that for him." 5. Skepta and U.K. Grime had a huge influence on Drake's music. Drake genuinely loves the U.K. Grime scene and said that he's been a "fan of Skepta for a long time." "I think the best rappers in the world are in London. I think the complexities and the cadences and the way they piece music together...I really respect a lot of London emcees." Drake also emphasized Skepta's influence on widening Drake's mind: "I don't know if my mind would've been as open to One Dance or Controlla if I hadn't done that record with Skepta... This is our music. We're all entertwined. Afro-beats, Toronto to JamaicancCulture, dance hall, London. I gotta hail Skep for that one. That was a turning point for me." 6. More Life is considered a playlist because it's structured like a radio show. "The style in which its being put together is based on the concept of OVO Sound Radio. It's almost like a radio show. I basically asked myself "What if I did it like OVO Sound Radio but every song was a new Drake song?" It's more like an evolution of a mixtape. After Views, I was inspired and I wanted to keep the music going and get people inspired," Drake said. 7. OVO Sound Radio grew from an exclusive blog. "OVO Sound radio was the first of its kind....the OVO blog used to be our headquarters and that used to be where we could share exclusive thoughts and exclusive music with people and it became a hub where people could check in with. With OVO Sound Radio, you gotta make an appointment to listen, and it's such a great feeling to hear. It makes it fun again, it reminds you of those mixtape days, it reminds you of New York old school rap days. I feel like that's the true blessing of OVO Sound Radio is we've got so many artists that's ready to fire off new music. It's nice to know our platform is respected," Drake said.

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