Drake “Disgusted” With Rolling Stone For Giving His Cover To Philip Seymour Hoffman, Calls Kanye’s Lyrics “Questionable”

Drake “Disgusted” With Rolling Stone For Giving His Cover To Philip Seymour Hoffman, Calls Kanye’s Lyrics “Questionable”

Yesterday, we learned that Drake had spoken ill of Macklemore to Rolling Stone. After Macklemore had defeated Kendrick Lamar (and Drake, and Kanye West, and Jay Z) for the Best Rap Album Grammy, Macklemore sent a text of apology to Kendrick and then shared that text on Instagram, an action Drake calls “wack as fuck.” Drake’s Rolling Stone feature isn’t online yet, but rumor has it that there is more shit-talk in it, and some of that shit-talk is directed at Drake’s occasional mentor Kanye West.

Drake and Kanye have a long history together. Kanye directed Drake’s video for “Best I Ever Had,” and more recently, the two shared stages twice last year. But as RealTalkNY notes, Drake, in his Rolling Stone interview, clowns some of Kanye’s lyrics from the Yeezus track “I’m In It”: “There were some real questionable bars on there. Like that, ‘Swaghilli,’ line? Come on man. Even Fabolous wouldn’t say some shit like that.” (This quote isn’t confirmed yet, since the story isn’t out, but it’s already all over the internet.) Kanye is probably not happy about this, and I can’t imagine Fabolous is, either.

In the article, Drake also has words for praise. But since word of the sharp words leaked out, Drake has taken to Twitter to claim that he said nothing of the kind and to bash Rolling Stone:

I never commented on Yeezus for my interview portion of Rolling Stone. They also took my cover from me last minute and ran the issue. I’m disgusted with that. RIP to Phillip Seymour Hoffman. All respect due. But the press is evil. I’m done doing interviews for magazines. I just want to give my music to the people. That’s the only way my message gets across accurately.

For a second there, I thought Drake was shouting out Hoffman’s portrayal of Lester Bangs in Almost Famous. But no, apparently Drake’s been bumped from the cover to make room for a Philip Seymour Hoffman memorial, and he is not thrilled about that.

UPDATE: Drake has pulled the offending quotes from Twitter. Meanwhile, TMZ reports Drake was aware he had been bumped from the magazine’s cover prior to publication, but felt he had been “tricked” [because he] “only did the interview if he was going to be on the cover.” Finally, Rolling Stone just published their much-debated Drake feature, and even beyond the controversy-baiting leaked quotes, the thing is just loaded with amazing details. Notably, the first quote, in the first paragraph, is Drake saying, “I want to be sure your tape recorder gets everything,” which presumably is there to deflate Drake’s claims of being misquoted. The piece is called “High Times at the YOLO Estate,” and you should read it. Here are some highlights:

  • Drake’s 12,500 square foot mansion (set on three acres in Hidden Hills, CA) includes an ‘enormous swimming pool – the rippling waters of which contain two very big statues of voluptuous women, on their knees, in bikinis … a man-made grotto, tricked out with a wet bar, illuminated wading pools, flatscreen TVs … iron torches, affixed to the grotto’s interior walls, belching flames … a pair of majestic elk, fashioned from stone, standing sentinel up top … a standalone, 25-seat movie theater; a combination tennis-basketball court; a mechanical bull; and a half-dozen stables for horses that Drake does not own.’ Says Drake: “Originally, I had a sign outside that said the yolo estate, but it got stolen three times, and it was getting a bit costly to replace it, so I just changed it to the street number.”
  • On his emo rep: “There’s these GIFs about me, these stupid stereotypes people have of me as this overly emotional character that cries in his room every night … There are jokes because of Degrassi, because I’m Canadian, because I make music for women. There are memes of guys crying to my music … I love it. I heart those photos when I see them on Instagram.”
  • On Rihanna and love: “She’s the ultimate fantasy. I mean, I think about it. Like, ‘Man, that would be good.’ We have fun together, she’s cool and shit. But we’re just friends. That’s my dog for life … I’m not after pussy like I was three years ago, when I was trying to make up for all the years when no girl would talk to me. But I haven’t met somebody that makes everybody else not matter.”‘
  • On the Grammys: “It becomes more apparent how irrelevant our genre is to them. They were trying to utilize me to sell the show, requesting me to come and perform ‘Hold On We’re Going Home’ but they didn’t nominate it for anything! They’re calling me, e-mailing me every day to do some elaborate performance and bring them viewers, but I didn’t get a nomination for Album of the Year. I didn’t get a nomination for Song of the Year.”
  • On art shout-outs in rap: “It’s like Hov can’t drop bars these days without at least four art references! I would love to collect at some point, but I think the whole rap/art world thing is getting kind of corny.”
  • On his rhymes: “I’m very particular about bar structure, where something ends, where it begins … [I] go on Wikipedia and research my shit.”
  • On producers: “It’s about finding what’s next … I’m hesitant to let people know what producers I’m fucking with, what I’m rapping about. I’d rather drop that winning hand out of nowhere.”
  • On Kanye: “There were some real questionable bars on [Yeezus]. Like that ‘Swaghili’ line? Come on, man. Even Fabolous wouldn’t say some shit like that. [But] “Kanye’s the reason I’m here. I love everything about that guy … Kanye and me are friends; we’re plotting on getting some work done together … [Jay Z and Kanye] are gods to me … I’m just feeling like the throne is for the taking – watch me take it.”

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