Kanye West and Drake may be (mostly) all buddy-buddy now, but it wasn’t so long ago that they were feuding so fiercely that West asked some of his closest collaborators — including Travis Scott — not to work with Drake at all.
via: HotNewHipHop
During a recent appearance on the Rap Today With Francis podcast, Malik Yusef claimed that Kanye West asked him not to work with Drake. Apparently, Ye’s preference for collaborators not to work with the Canadian hitmaker extends far past Yusef, too. According to the Chicago-born artist, West even asked Travis Scott to avoid collaborating with him. Moreover, Yusef thinks that Ye’s antisemitic remarks could have something to do with Drake, and his Jewish background.
“I think [the antisemitic comments] were for Drake,” Yusef explained. “That’s what I think. I don’t know who else you would say that was. I have never directly worked with Drake ’cause Kanye asked me not to. He said, ‘Please don’t go work directly with Drake.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ ‘Cause Kanye’s brother, but I love Drake too, though. He asked Travis [Scott] the same thing, but Travis said no.”
My interview with #KanyeWest collaborator Malik Yusef is out! We talk about Ye being mean, working on the new album, possibly touring and the artist’s relationship with Drake and Kid Cudihttps://t.co/sGSG5JgDQr
— Francis (@francisnewyork) September 25, 2023
As for why Ye prefers for his collaborators to avoid Drake, Yusef said he’s not quite sure. “I think that Drake loves Kanye, and that Kanye hates that Drake loves him,” he described. “I don’t feel like him being angry with Drake has any credence, because Drake has been nothing but kind and good and a good student of Kanye, so I don’t know where the anger comes from. ’He took my style!’ Okay, cool. Drake takes everybody’s style. To me, Drake has his own unique style — it’s a hodgepodge of several different styles.”
Though it’s probably safe to say listeners won’t be getting a Kanye West x Drake collab anytime soon, Ye does reportedly have a new album on the way. According to TMZ Hip-Hop, Ye’s been pumping out new songs at a steady pace in recent weeks, and is in a “truly great headspace.” A source even spoke with NBC News at the end of last month, telling the outlet that “New music is imminent.”
