Up-and-coming Toronto rapper Drake has spoken candidly about his upcoming debut, his association with Lil Wayne and newly signed record deal in the upcoming issue of Fader magazine.
During the interview Drizzy confirms that he received over a million dollars for his highly publicized deal. As XXLMag.com previously reported in June he signed directly to his manager Cortez Bryant’s company Aspire and inked a unique distribution deal with Universal Republic after months of being courted by every major label.”I went through Universal Republic because I don’t fuck with Motown, ” he explained to the magazine. “At All.”
Drake has spoken out about his personal beef with Sylvia Rhone the president of Motown Records and the executive vice president of Universal Records – the parent label to mentor Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint – on record before. On “Say What’s Real,” a track from his critically-acclaimed mixtape So Far Gone he spit: “I’ve always been something that these labels can’t buy/especially if they trying to take a piece of my soul/and Sylvia be telling Tez/Damn, Drake fly/and he just be like, ‘silly motherfucka I know'”
Now some light has been shed on their relationship. According to the article, during Drake’s bidding war, Rhone threatened the rapper with legal action if he went elsewhere.
At the end Drizzy says the Young Money logo will appear on his CD but he explains he is doing so out of respect not because of contractual obligations. “I respect the fact that Wayne put me in this position,” he said. “But as an artist I have to do my own thing at this point. I’m not sure if that’s gonna be a struggle in the next couple of month, to set myself apart. I don’t want it to feel like a disrespectful thing, but I know it’s a bridge that I’m going to cross as far as becoming my own person.”
As far as the album is concerned, Drake’s camp says that Kanye West, who has already directed the clip for “Best I Ever Had,” is toying with the idea of executive producing the project. Drake has already went into the studio with Rihanna, Pharrell and Ye for the album, entitled Thank Me Later.
Drake is currently recovering from a knee injury during a stop on the Young Money Presents: America’s Most Wanted Music Festival with Weezy, Soulja Boy and Young Jeezy.
