Drake Swore Off Magazine Interviews in 2014 After He Says a Publication Published His Off-the-Record Comments About Kanye West
Over the years, Grammy-winning rapper Drake has given countless interviews where he’s reflected on his music, his rise to stardom from acting on Degrassi: The Next Generation, and his relationships with other artists. In 2014, Drake was upset after Rolling Stone magazine published comments he made about Kanye West off the record, leading Drizzy to go off on the legacy music publication and swear off giving magazine interviews forever.
Drake and Kanye West have known each other for years
Drake first started rapping in the mid-2000s after leaving Degrassi, and in the late 2000s, he appeared on various Kanye West tracks including “Barry Bonds” and “Swagga Like Us.” He gushed about Kanye’s influence in a 2009 interview with MTV.
“Kanye West shaped a lot of what I do, as far as music goes,” he said. “[B]efore I met him, I had the utmost respect for Kanye West. I’d even go as far as to say he’s the most influential person as far as a musician that I’d ever had in my life.”
Tension between the two rappers grew after Drake learned that Ye was working on a joint album with Jay-Z. They squashed the beef after Kanye appeared as a surprise guest at OVO Fest in 2013. Later that year, he told Billboard about how he got into it with Kanye in the first place.
“Me and Ye just fell into this thing where we hadn’t actually talked to each other in so long that all this stuff got built up,” Drake said. “Sometimes you just have to find the opportunity to tell someone that you really like and respect them. After that, everything can move forward. Hopefully we give the world what they want, because I know they want it. I know me and Ye could do some crazy s*** together.”
Drake stopped doing magazine interviews after having his off-the-record comments about Kanye West published
In 2014, Drake gave an interview with Rolling Stone that ended up setting off a firestorm on social media, in part due to his comments about Kanye West. He heaped praise on Ye for his music, including his collab album with Jay-Z, Watch the Throne. Still, Drake was upset that his comments about Kanye’s album Yeezus made their way into the story.
“There were some real questionable bars on there,” Drake said in the story. “Like that ‘Swaghili’ line? Come on, man. Even Fabolous wouldn’t say some [stuff] like that.”
After the story was published, Drake took to Twitter in a series of since-deleted tweets to express his frustration.
“I never commented on Yeezus for my interview portion of Rolling Stone,” he said, adding that he lost the cover “last minute.” The cover was instead given to actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died shortly before the issue hit newsstands. He tweeted that he was “disgusted” by the publication, adding his condolences for Hoffman.
“RIP to Phillip Seymour Hoffman. All respect due. But the press is evil,” he wrote in a deleted tweet, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The snafu was so serious that he vowed never to give another magazine interview again.
“I’m done doing interviews for magazines,” he wrote in the only tweet that remains posted to this day. “I just want to give my music to the people. That’s the only way my message gets across accurately.”
Drake and Kanye’s relationship today
Drake later said in his Rolling Stone interview “Kanye’s the reason I’m here. I love everything about that guy.”
The two have continued to maintain a relationship over the years, with the two coming together for a benefit concert in December 2021. However, following Kanye’s antisemitism controversies in 2022, Drake (who himself is Jewish) hasn’t spoken on Kanye publicly.
