Ebro Darden Clarifies Viral Drake Comments: "We Don’t Need Him To Be Some Social Activist"

BYCole Blake1.5K Views
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Hot 97 Summer Jam Announcement Party
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 03: Ebro Darden during The Hot 97 Summer Jam Announcement Party at Headquarters on April 03, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage)
Ebro Darden has elaborated on his recent viral comments regarding Drake.

Ebro Darden has addressed his viral comments on Drake not speaking on problems plaguing the Black community. During his Hot 97 morning radio show on Tuesday, Ebro explained that he doesn't want Drake to suddenly become political.

As for his original take that circulated on social media, Ebro said: “Drake, who has never shown up, and y’all know I’m the biggest Drake fan on this show. Drake has never shown up to have anything to say about anything going on in society with Black folks or anything other than himself.” The comments sparked debate amongst fans as to whether artists are obligated to discuss social issues.

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ATLANTA, GA - DECEMBER 9: Rapper Drake performs onstage during "Lil Baby & Friends Birthday Celebration Concert" at State Farm Arena on December 9, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage)

Now, Ebro has elaborated on what he intended to mean: “By the way, I don’t know if I even want [Drake to make social commentary with his music]. That’s not who he is. I don’t think an artist is obligated, if you have a platform… but in this context, you’re talking about a song that did… now you’re in the fray.”

He added: “We love Drake for who Drake is. Drake’s talking about love, he’s very transparent personally. From what we can tell, he’s a nice person. He’s not a mean-spirited person. None of that. We don’t need him to be some social activist.”

Ebro Darden Discusses Drake

The conversation about Drake's lack of activism came about following the Toronto rapper's feud with Donald Glover. After Glover revealed to GQ that his Childish Gambino song, "This Is America," was originally a diss aimed at Drake, Drake labeled the song, "overrated," during a concert on his ongoing It's All A Blur tour. Of those comments, Ebro remarked: “Don’t come for the song that was saying something when we needed somebody to say something.” Glover has yet to respond to Drake's apparent diss.

[Via]

About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
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