The DrakYe Interviews Face/Off: Bro Together, Grow Together

Illustration by Alex Cook

Kanye West and Drake have a lot in common. Categorically, both are male rappers who released critically lauded albums this year and are about to go on tour in the fourth quarter of 2013. Ambiguously, they both exist on an expanding orbit of fame and popularity that most of their peers will never attain, regardless of how much work they put in. Both of their popularities are attributed to the fact that they are, in short, relatable, covering topics that fall outside the traditional scope of rap. Both are often accused of creating polarizing music that forces listeners to reevaluate their personal taste. They create emotionally fueled art that the everyman identifies with, dealing with everything from romantic to maternal relationships and, seemingly, everything else.

Most importantly to this article, both participated in video interviews this past week. The BBC's Zane Lowe spoke to Kanye West in an intimate one-on-one interview held inside a studio while Elliott Wilson interviewed Drake in a New York University auditorium in front of thousands of fans. Both Kanye and Drake expressed a positive sentiment towards these recorded interviews, since they each had unfavorable experiences by having their words skewed against them in print and radio in the past. Through watching each of these video questionnaires, the casual viewer is treated to previously unknown information about the artist.

To condense Kanye's eruptious sermon to anything less than a full transcript would be doing him a disservice. But in short, Kanye is a producer who produces things, and he's disappointed that he's not allowed to produce new things on a larger scale. He's not upset at how the system works as much as he's upset that a system still exists for Kanye West. Meanwhile Drake's penchant for all things oratory delivered insight into everything from his musical aspirations to his family life with the sort of charisma that late night talkshow hosts strive for. And while Drake is self-effacing to a point that borders on abrasive, you're left unsure if you're witnessing an act of cynicism or a sense of self-awareness that's not typically reserved for rappers.

But to find the most compelling discoveries, one must only look at where the topics intersected: their distrust for internet comments, a fondness for what Jay-Z has accomplished, the desire to push music forward, and their admiration for each other.

“I showed people that I understand how to make perfect. ‘Dark Fantasy’ could be considered to be perfect. I know how to make perfect, but that’s not what I’m here to do. I’m here to crack the pavement and make new grounds—sonically and society, culturally.”

Most artists that have come of age in the past few years have admitted to reading the online comments associated with their music. But having both Drake and Kanye confess to doing so carries more gravity than when Wale says he still reads NikeTalk forums. For two artists who have achieved so much, it seems almost sadomasochistic for them to seek out what an often-negative Internet has to say at all. But when Kanye talks about reading Hypebeast comments, he's not doing so for inspiration or validation, he's doing it to see how wrong we are. Meanwhile, the human meme-machine known as Drake acknowledges that the internet is not real life and that only a small portion of people are even aware of the existence of this "rap-internet" that contains leaks and Drake criticisms.

"I live in the same world as you, which is like the Rap Internet world. I am a big part of it. Even though you don’t see me on there that much, I’m actually on there a lot. Sometimes it’s easy to fall victim to a lot of the scrutiny in there, but that’s not actually the real world… That particular world is not something to get caught up in, and that’s what I tried to do on this album."

Online fans will often tell both artists to go back to doing what it was that made them popular to begin with, but this seems to only reaffirm their desire to trudge forward. Kanye says that he already "knows how to make perfect" and that his output adds to humanity, a sentiment that Drake echoes when he talks about expanding his sound beyond So Far Gone. Drake understands that sometimes fans are only fans of your music because nobody else is or because of what that music meant to that point of your life. He's both sympathizing and relating to what his detractors say while dismissing it in the most political, Drake-like fashion imaginable. The only thing more unpretentious than reading what internet commentators have to say about a project you've dedicated so much time on is to disregarding them altogether because of a strong self-confidence.

“Jay is more realized than me. Meaning more of his dreams and hopes and aspirations have come true, and hopefully, God willing, by the time I’m his age, that thing will happen for me also, and I’ll be in that more Zenned-out place… You don’t realize I am SO frustrated, I’ve got so much I want to give, and I’ve got a million people telling me I can’t do it.”

Jay Z is objectively the most successful rapper to have ever picked up the microphone and what DrakYe had to say about him illustrates how they see themselves in relation to the greats. West spoke about Jay as a kindred spirit and a collaborator, but also as referred to him as a sort of roadblock to creativity on the The Throne's live show. Kanye said that Jay is much more self-actualized than he is—which is quite possibly the best explanation for the lack of hunger in Jay's recent output—and that he hopes to be at that stage of zen when he is Jay's age. Kanye went from looking at Jay-Z as a big brother to an equal, but you never get the sense that he views him as true competition. This may be due in part to the fact that Jay Z and Kanye don't operate within the same spheres of rap music (artistic and aloof vs. decidedly for-profit) or because their rise to fame was so closely intertwined from the start.

"So I had the nerve to ask Jay if I could not only get that song from him, but get the a capella, because I had an idea for it. And Jay is such a supportive person as far as my career goes and [he's] such a great guy that, for the first time I think in his career, he sent me two verses a capella. He told me, ‘I never do this.'"

Drake on the other hand sees Jay as more of a mentor who believes in the Canadian's crusade and imparts wisdom whenever possible. In fact, Drake mentions that Jay Z gifted him two a capella verses that were being saved for MCHG, something that Jay "never does". But outside of a few positive collaborations and the excusable "Off That", Drake and Jay Z are still truly competitive with one another. Drake studied Jay Z and learned from his mistakes, and in spite of the fact that he acknowledges that Mr. Carter is on the top of the totem pole, he still wants to replace him. You only have to look as far as Drake's announcement that he'll be a part of the Toronto Raptors rebranding to see how closely he plans on following in Jay's footsteps. To be the greatest, you must defeat the greatest, and Kanye's relationship is too symbiotic to ever aim to defeat Jay. Drake on the other hand seems ready to swoop in as soon as he gathers all of the information and favors he can acquire.

“What people don’t realize is, I want to make uniforms for my high school basketball team through brand Yeezy. I want to make that one step, and then make another step, and then eventually do uniforms for an entire city. Then I want them uniforms to be hot and make money. Then I eventually want to be the anchor and the force behind a billion-dollar company. And after I make that billion dollar step, then I can go in and say, Hey, I’ve got an opinion on this. And that can be a 10 billion-dollar step. And I eventually want to be the anchor of the first trillion-dollar company.”

In regards to motives, both artists seem to have similar goals at face value: they want to push the culture forward. However, their process of doing so couldn't be more different. Kanye West wants to avoid modern sonic textures, going out of his way to not make popular records that will sell because he knows that "the music that sells is the least inspired." Drake, on the other hand, looks at the past to see what the future should sound like. Look no further than his radio-smash "Hold On We're Going Home" for proof, which Drake says was inspired by the music coming from his parent's time. It's a catchy and successful song, but to call it "uninspired" would be doing it a disservice. Kanye West mentioned his newfound love for collaboration, saying (somewhat ironically) that ego often stands in the way of progress.

"I’m really looking forward at some point, not right now ’cause I feel like I obviously have a couple more rap albums to make. But I’m looking forward to giving you that moment, like, I remember hearing ’808 & Heartbreaks.’ I’m looking forward to giving you my version of a full singing record one day."

In contrast, Drake has relied on his long-time partner 40 to be the main architect for his sound and takes pride in the fact that "the music doesn't leave one room" from start to finish. Both Kanye and Drake want to push things forward, but Drake specifically said that he wants to push rap music forward and blur genre lines while Kanye proclaimed that he wants to push our entire culture forward, starting with uniforms and leading up to a trillion dollar conglomerate which he will anchor. These are both lofty goals that major artists should want to strive for and only time will tell if either are accomplished, but they're a far cry from Tupac's humble mission to "spark the brain that will change the world". Then again, maybe the brains that Tupac wanted to spark are the ones that currently belong to Drake and Kanye.

"There's only one person staying up every night trying to make things new and his sound better and better and that is Kanye West."

For two artists who are so closely intertwined and directly comparable, Drake and Kanye show each other a lot of admiration. While talking to Wilson, Drake mentioned that his only real competition is Kanye, a guy who stays up every night trying to perfect his craft. Likewise, Kanye asks Zane to imagine a world where Drake was only limited to releasing a single mixtape and how that would limit our current culture's appreciation for good music. For two competitors to share that level of respect bodes well for future collaborations both musical in nature and not, in spite of the fact that history proves that it hasn't always been the best executed idea (see: "Best I Ever Had" video).

"For me to do the Yeezy's and not have a joint venture backing deal with Nike the next day would have been like if I made 'Jesus Walks' and was never allowed to make an album. If Drake made his first mixtape and was never allowed to be signed."

The fact that these artists to have so much in common is exciting in the current climate, but exponentially more exciting when looking forward. Drake is ten years younger than Kanye and said that the greatest piece of advice he ever received was to disconnect himself from the end goal and just enjoy the journey. However, if he's not careful, Drake might fall into tropes that Kanye demonstrated in a decade's time. If that ever happens, be ready to see Drake's inner jilted artist flourish to heights that Kanye didn't have time to reach.

Slava Pastuk is Canadian just like Drake. He's on Twitter — @SlavaP