Drake - Complex Interview
photo via Google ImagesIn an exclusive interview, Aubrey Graham - aka Drake - sits down with Complex writer Damien Scott and discusses his new mixtape, So Far Gone, his relationship with Lil' Wayne, being from Toronto and his place amongst hip-hop's rising young stars. Drizzy the beast. Enjoy.
Q. Many people don't know too much about you outside of your role in Degrassi. Were you alays into music?
Drake: As far as music goes, it’s always been a major part of my life. My uncle is Larry Graham played bass for Prince, my father, Dennis Graham, wrote for Al Green. [He helped] write “Let’s Stay Together” and “Love & Happiness.” My dad drummed for Jerry Lee Lewis. I’ve always been around great music. My family being from Memphis, Tenn, growing up around all the hip hop—Thee Six Mafia, Kingpin Skimmy Pimp, early Yo Gotti, shit like that was kinda what really influenced me.
How I got into rapping was, my dad was in jail for two years and he shared a cell wit this dude who didn’t really have anyone to speak to. So, he used to share his phone time with this dude and at the time I was probably 16 or 17, this dude was like 20-22, and he would always rap to me over the phone—it was Poverty, that was his rap name. After while I started to get into it and I started to write my own shit down. And after a while, he would call me and we would just rap to each other. And after my dad got out I kept in touch with dude and kept writing my shit down and eventually I learned from meeting people who were into music, too, the art of making a song and I accepted the fact that I wanted to be in music.
Q. Not too many people know about the rap scene out in Canada. How's the atmosphere out there? Is everyone cool and supportive of each other?
Drake: I’m cool with everyone out here. One thing I’ll say is, as of late, with everything that’s been happening, we’ve really started to support each other, which is just great. A lot of people have reached out to me and said they’re proud of what I’m doing, and I’m proud of what a lot of these guys are doing. I think we do have talent up here. Someone that I idolize and someone who I think is one of the greatest artists period is K-OS—that’s someone I really look up.
Q. So you really feel like you have the entire city behind you?
Drake: There’s been a certain surge of excitement around my city, it’s just crazy man, everything is just overwhelming. One thing I will say is that with a guy like Kardinal or a guy like Socrates, [who’ve] been around for 10 years, maybe more…a lot of people will tell me, “I’ve never seen a city really support anyone like this before.” And Toronto, they say, is the Screwface capital. They say it’s the city of hate, we’ve never really had that icon, someone where we can say, That’s our hometown hero. I’m not saying that I am that guy yet, but I think that I’m well on my way.
Q. You mention K-OS as someone you look up to, but a lot of people who listen to you say you sound like a mash up of Lil' Wayne and Kanye...
Drake: You know, those are two guys that I definitely look up to and to be regarded as a mesh between those two guys is definitely a good thing ’cause I love both of their music. When it comes to influencing my music, I’m also influenced by just great writers, all the music that’s outside of the rap or R&B genres. People that paint vivid pictures. I like all different kinds of music. I never heavily molded myself after rappers. Sometimes they say when you think something and you go to say it, you lose a lot of color about what you’re trying to say, so to me the best rappers are the people that don’t lose that color. Like, Andre 3000, ‘Ye, Wayne. So yeah, it’s definitely an honor.
Q. Listening to your earlier mixtapes, as well as So Far Gone, a constant them seems to be the notion that "All That Glitters Ain't Gold." It seems like you try to be honest and downplay the rapper lifestyle, like when you talk about buying a Phantom but regretting it.
Drake: Yeah, well, to be even more honest, I leased a Phantom instead of buying one, ’cause I didn't have enough money to buy a Phantom, I leased a Phantom because that’s what I thought I needed to do. And I’ve done a lot of things to just enjoy my nights a little more and to feed my ego. And that’s kinda why I rap about it, because a lot of people are like, “If he ever steps out of line, I’m gonna say Drake’s wack.” So the only choice I have is to be honest with my listeners. And that’s not to say it’s not a glamorous life and it’s not fun, but the reality is it’s great for the average person to hear a musician’s reality because we all seem so unattainable and so out of reach that when you bring yourself back to eye level with a fan and do it in the right way…
Q. Talk to us about So Far Gone. What was the idea behind it?
Drake: It’s basically a story. It starts in January 2008 when I was kinda confused like, What am I really doing? I gave up acting all together to really do this music thing, and I was really truly confused. It’s way different than acting, there aren’t people to depend on, you really have to build your own thing basically from the ground up, you know, so in January not only was I confused about my career, I was also in a very destructive sort of us exhausting relationship with a female and it was just a bad headspace for me to be in. So that’s where the tape starts.
It starts with this monologue, “Lust For Life”, of me crying out, in my head the things that I never say. The things that I was just thinking, that was my mindset. Then it goes to “Houstatlantavegas” which is about what I felt about the girl I was with. I just felt that nothing was ever good enough, and she was always searching for more excitement and then we move into “Successful.” I say at the end of the song, “There are so many things I want to say but I just don’t know how to say it to you.” I know exactly what I want to say, you know, I just want to be successful, but I don’t know if I can do it with you and then it goes into “Let’s Call It Off,” which is the breakup. And then coincidentally when I broke up with that girl a week later I went to Houston and met Lil Wayne and that’s where “November 18″ comes from.
Q. How'd exactly did you wind up meeting Weezy?
Drake: My friend Jazz Prince—J Prince of Rap-a-Lot’s son—he played Wayne a couple of my songs and Wayne called me when I was in the barber chair getting a haircut, and he was like, “Dude, I just heard two songs from you and you got a whole CD of shit here, I don’t even need to hear anymore, I just need you here right now, can you get to Houston?” So I came out the next night. That was my first time in Houston and the culture and the city was so overwhelming. I felt like I hit Houston and got my swag back. I was single, I was with Wayne and it was Houston, I was going nuts, sipping drank, smoking, it was fun to me. And then you get “Ignorant Shit,” which is what came out of my meeting with Wayne.
Q. Where did the title come from?
Drake: The whole tape extends from one of my closest friends Oliver—One night we were having a discussion about women and they way we were talking about them, it was so brazen and so disrespectful. He texted me right after we got off the phone and he was like, “Are we becoming the men that our mothers divorced?” That’s really where the cover comes from, too. It’ just this kid in pursuit of love and money. We’re good guys, I’m friends with some real good people and for him to even text me after we got off the phone it just showed we have a conscience. But sometimes you just get so far gone, you get wrapped up in this shit. The title has a lot of meanings—as the way we carry ourselves, the way we dress, the way people view us, not to sound cocky, it’s just that feeling that we’re just distanced in a good way. You’re just elevating past the bullshit and past all the shit that you used to be a part of and you’re not that proud of, you’re just so far gone.
Q. You have three of the best young R&B artists in the game on this tape, but fewer up and coming MCs. Are you as cool with the new generation of rappers? Were you upset that you weren't on the XXL Freshman 10 cover?
Drake: I’m actually very grateful I wasn’t on that cover, to be honest. I feel like everybody that was on there deserved to be on there; I’m a fan of a lot of those guys. I just think I have a different path, a different story to tell. To be put in that group is a like a gift and a curse. So to be the one guy that wasn’t on there that everyone talks about or should have been in there is kind of a good thing. It kind of creates a little bit of fun tension. I like getting my own thoughts out right now, I have fans to solidify, so that’s why I don’t do tracks with too many younger rappers or newer artists. People may consider me to be a music snob or whatever, but I like to preserve what’s mine and I also don’t just do tracks to do tracks, I make every song with a purpose. But… me and Wale are real close friends, we talk a lot, man. I listen to Kid Cudi’s shit all the time. Chuck Inglish from the Cool Kids hit me up and was giving me all the compliments in the world—we’re real cool.
Q. One of the main criticisms of this mixtape is that it sounds like 808s & Heartbreak lite.
Drake: Right, well, I think any time a rapper sings now, they’re going to say that. Just like whenever a rapper uses Auto-Tune, they say that’s Pain. I’ll put it this way: Kanye West has an amazing mind, but he always has the means that when he thinks something, he can make it happen right away. But I’ve been singing way before 808s and Heartbreak. I wrote all the hooks on every song I’ve done since I did “Replacement Girl” with Trey Songz in 2006. I’ve been in the R&B world for a long time, writing for artists, writing for myself, playing with different sounds and stuff.
So as far as 808s goes, that was a great album, I tip my hat Kanye for making that major release instead of making it a mixtape. But at the same time… people always need something to compare it to. The other thing is, [So Far Gone] is a lot different—it’s real R&B music, that’s why I put Omarion and Lloyd and Trey Songz on there. I’m doing duets with these guys. These are real R&B singers, [and] that’s what I was going for. Kanye was doing something different… I don’t even know how to classify it, I guess he calls it pop art. I love R&B music, man, that’s what you gotta understand, I listen to R&B music more than I listen to rap. That’s kinda my thing. I just want to make genuinely sexy music for women to listen to and for men to play for women.
Q. Is your major label debut going to sound similar to So Far Gone?
Drake: My album is not going to sound like So Far Gone. It’s a well-rounded body of work that—again people will relate to what I’m saying, but the songs are made obviously to be sold to the public, so this was just my chance to think and write freely. It’s a solid hip hop album. I went left before—most go left after—my album comes out, so people will be like, Thank God, I thought he was about to do some weird shit. Some people go left after, when they feel more comfortable, but I feel comfortable with my talent.
Q. There was also a rumor going around that you ghost write for Wayne.
Drake: [Laughs] You know, we’re all great artists, great minds, and we all just contribute to each other, there’s been times when Wayne has helped me out, and I’m sure, I hope, I’ve influenced him to do or say things on tracks. We help each other out, that’s part of being two artists who respect each others creativity.
Q. We all saw him spit one of your verses at the MTV awards.
Drake: Yeah, at the VMA’s. That was just a spontaneous decision on his part. He used to always tell me, “I love that verse,” and just came out on stage and rapped that verse. [Laughs] And the wildest part was I was stuck outside of the Awards. I couldn’t even get into the award show ‘cause they didn’t give me the right pass, so I was stuck outside listening to my verse. It was my Hilary Swank moment.
Q. Before we go, who has the better groupies, rappers or actors?
Drake: [Laughs] I don’t know, I don’t talk to the groupies. I talk to nice, upstanding women. The groupies don’t get my attention. It’s the women that I like.
[Interview by Damien Scott]
