In September, Drake releases his much anticipated junior album, Nothing Was The Same, Drake sat down will Billboard Magazine and opened up about the Internet’s love for his catchy logos like “YOLO” and “No New Friends,” and alas, he reveals exactly what he did after he heard the self proclaimed “King of New York’s” verse on “Control.” Check out some excerpts from the Billboard interview below.
On his rap catch phrases:
“I’ll be out trying to get a sandwich or something and the guy will say to me, ‘I’d give you a free drink with that, but you know, no new friends,’” Drake says with a laugh. “I swear I’m not sitting around going, ‘What’s the new meme going to be?’ But I do spend a lot of time when I’m writing, especially lately, trying to make something for people to live by. I’m trying to make anthems that are empowering to people, to find phrases that I haven’t heard before. I’m not just going to sit here and be like, ‘Fuckin’ bitches, getting money!’”
And alas, Drake responds to Kendrick’s “Control” verse, where he raps:
“I’m usually homeboys with the same niggas I’m rhymin’ wit / But this is hip hop and them niggas should know what time it is / And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Big KRIT, Wale, Pusha T, Meek Millz, A$AP Rocky, Drake, Big Sean, Jay Electron’, Tyler, Mac Miller/ I got love for you all but I’m tryna murder you niggas /Tryna make sure your core fans never heard of you niggas/They dont wanna hear not one more noun or verb from you niggas/ What is competition? I’m tryna raise the bar high/ Who tryna jump and get it? You better off tryna skydive”
According to the Billboard article, after hearing Kendrick’s verse on Big Sean’s recent single “Control,” Drake says he: “went about my day, went and got dinner and kept it moving.”
He continues:
“I didn’t really have anything to say about it,” Drake says of the verse, which has so far inspired responses from A$AP Rocky, Joey Bada$$, former Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson and too many others to count. “It just sounded like an ambitious thought to me. That’s all it was. I know good and well that Kendrick’s not murdering me, at all, in any platform. So when that day presents itself, I guess we can revisit the topic.”
Check out the full article over at Billboard.
