Drake has responded to claims made during the summer that some of his lyrics are written by ghostwriters.
Fellow rapper Meek Mill originally made the allegations on Twitter, claiming that Drake used a ghostwriter for his guest verse on the star’s recent LP. The claims led to the pair exchanging diss tracks and barbed jibes over the course of several weeks.
New York DJ Funkmaster Flex also weighed into the dispute, airing a series of “reference tracks” by other artists that were later used in Drake songs. Speaking to The Fader in a new interview, Drake defended himself by saying that “music can be a collaborative process”.
“I need, sometimes, individuals to spark an idea so that I can take off running,” Drake said. “Music at times can be a collaborative process, you know? Who came up with this, who came up with that – for me, it’s like, I know that it takes me to execute every single thing that I’ve done up until this point. And I’m not ashamed.”
Drake originally responded to the allegations by releasing two new songs – ‘Charged Up’ and ‘Back To Back’ – which, initially, went without reply from his detractors. The rapper told Fader that he was surprised that his accusers didn’t have a comeback.
“This is a discussion about music, and no-one’s putting forth any music?” he said. “You guys are gonna leave this for me to do? This is how you want to play it? You guys didn’t think this through at all – nobody?”
Drake continued of the latter song ‘Back To Back’: “This has to literally become the song that people want to hear every single night, and it’s gonna be tough to exist during this summer when everybody wants to hear [this] song that isn’t necessarily in [his accusers’] favour.”
Drake released a new album on September 20 with Future. The joint mixtape is called ‘What A Time To Be Alive’.
The mixtape is available as an Apple Music exclusive for one week and was debuted by Drake on his OVO Sound Radio show on Apple’s Beats 1.
“When you get around Future it’s like a vortex,” said Drake on the show. He went on to explain that he originally went to Future’s hometown of Atlanta to do “a few songs” but the collaboration grew into something more considerable. “It’s a little soundtrack for the people who need it right now,” Drake added.
Drake and Future toured the US together earlier this year. Future’s most recent LP, ‘DS2’, which was released in July, featured Drake on ‘Where Ya At’. Meanwhile, Drake is believed to be working on new studio album ‘Views From The 6’, having already released solo mixtape ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’ earlier in 2015.
