Drake opens up about feeling alienated from the black male community and he’s also responding the accusations of him being a culture vulture. More inside…
Just before we wrap up the decade, Drake opens up like never before in a candid two-hour long interview for TIDAL’s Rap Radar podcast with hosts Elliott Wilson and Brian “B.Dot” Miller. It’s rare for Drizzy to do super long, in-depth interviews, so it was def a treat for his fans that also served as a Christmas gift since the discussion was released on Christmas Day.
The "So Far Gone" rapper (who's no longer signed to Young Money/Cash Money - he's now with Universal) talked about tons of topics, including his past beef with Meek Mill and how they squashed it (thanks Serena Williams), why he has no desire to squash his beef with Pusha T, his ongoing feud with Kanye West, how Rihanna was the reason he was hesitant to work with Chris Brown, how he now sees Rihanna as "family," his regrets involving The Weeknd, never using a ghostwriter, what it's going to take for him to no longer be single, and more.
One part of the interview is catching more attention than others. The “Hotline Bling” rapper discussed his frustrations with the black community and it's seemingly the first time he has done so. The Canadian rapper – who is biracial – revealed he has felt excluded from the black male Hip Hop community for not being "black enough."
"I've been in a lot of rooms and in a lot of conversations and just felt the other side of judgement, racial judgments sometimes, like being light-skinned, being Canadian, having people I look up to and respect tell me I can't identify with what's going on."
While he identifies himself as a black man, he said he doesn’t feel celebrated as a black artist. And you can tell it bothers him because he appeared frustrated while explaining his feelings.
“Sometimes some of my blackest friends can be just as cruel on the other end by making you feel excluded or making you feel like you can't get in on this,” he said.
“Sometimes I do feel like … I don't feel celebrated when I know that someone else would be celebrated for those accomplishments, you know? I don’t feel like people say When Drake is the artist of the decade, I don’t feel like someone says ‘Wow a black artist is the artist of the decade.’ I don’t think anyone says that. I associate myself as a black man. It’s something I acknowledge, and I just keep it moving… Of course there’s a part of me that wants to be celebrated more, but who wants to listen to me cry about being celebrated.”
The Grammy Award winner also responded to accusations of being a culture vulture. People have accused him of appropriating Jamaican and U.K. culture, and he claims what he’s doing is not appropriation in the least bit.
"The definition of appropriating a culture is not supporting that culture, doing songs with people who are deeply rooted in that culture, giving opportunity to people who are in that culture. That's not appropriating."
Drizzy said you can’t call him a culture vulture because he doesn’t sit back, steal a concept, make money and NOT show love. It’s deeper than that for him.
"Appropriating is taking it for your own personal gain and denying that it was ever inspired from this. That's the true disservice that somebody could do to the U.K., to dancehall, to afrobeats. Me, I've always... Any time I embark on any of those journeys, I ensure that I'm not only paying all due respects verbally but... I make it a point to give opportunity to people that I respect."
"Again, I'm not one of those people that can be inspired by something and be like, 'Well, that's inspiring, thanks' and move on with it, you know, under my arm like running down the field," he continued. "I've got to at least honor the person that handed me off the football before I ran for the touchdown."
Take a listen below starting at the 41:10-minute mark:
Thoughts?
Photo: TIDAL
source: theybf
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