Drake finally dropped his Nothing Was The Same album today, and thus has naturally started his promotional tour. The Toronto emcee stopped by LA's Power 106 to talk about his relationship with Nicki Minaj, the many memes he's inspired, and of course-- whether he likes it or not --Kendrick Lamar's "Control" verse.
C. Papi began with explaining that his line hinting at tension between he and Nicki was now quite dated. "I started this album a year and a half ago, and it did kind of go in chronological order, for the most part." he said. That song kind of picks up at an earlier point in my life. I had done something that I had to just reevaluate and fix. We're good. We definitely talk. I saw her the other night. It was all love.
The rapper stressed that his tendency to share his issues on record is always done in a positive way. "I hope that when she hears that line, she understands that what I'm saying is that she's necessary in my life and that I care about her." he explained. "It's never with bad intentions. I did express that, and I did also fix that, which I'm happy about."
Drake then addressed the surplus of memes he's inspired, which he's apparently very cool with. "I love it because I don't take myself too seriously." he revealed. "With that comfort comes the ability to laugh at yourself... I hope you all know I used to look mad awkward with the weird haircut, with no line up," joked the rapper. "I've come along way from that and I'm not embarrassed about it."
Drake was then asked about his position on "Control," something he didn't really seem interested in talking about. "I'm as done as the rest of the world is with that record," he said. "I like lasting power, that's my thing".
Drizzy spoke of how the verse was sensationalized. "It's not even about the music or the content of it, it just seemed to be all about the bullshit and the talking at the time," he explained.
"I've thought of doing that before. I thought 'man it would be crazy if I just went off on everybody'" said the OVO rapper, but said that he felt he'd be pigeonholed if he did. "Then everytime I rap, people are going to expect me to be confrontational-- then when I'm not it's no entertaining. It kind of puts you in a box, a little bit."
Drake still made sure to make it clear that K.Dot is "talented as fuck," though feels he may have lost some collaborators after "Control". "He'll be alright, even if [his next album] doesn't feature any of the names he mentioned, which it probably won't," he said.
When asked if the verse discouraged him from working with Lamar, the rapper said that he certainly isn't jumping at the opportunity. "Yeah, I'm good right now." he said. "I'm not like 'let's work'--nah, not really... I'm really just focused on me, and OVO, and my side of things. I'm not really into doing a record with him now."
Listen to the full interview below.