Kanye

"Drake was the first thing that actually scared me and put pressure on me, because it was the first thing that was blatantly from a similar perspective and lane.

"When I feel pressure, I step my game up.

“So I believe that Drake made great music for people to love and enjoy, but he also forced me to step my game up, because I have to be Kanye West."

mtv.co.uk/kanye-west/news/drake-put-pressure-on-kanye-west

Weeknd

J. Cole
10:00

Kendrick Lamar

I did a show in Toronto on June 16. My first show in Toronto. I think it was the same night, we was going back to the hotel, and he hit my phone. I guess he had got the word that I was in town. He was there for the night working for the album, and he just said he wanted to meet up. We met up, chilled out, got to vibe, see where each other was at and s***. Sometimes you like a person's music but you definitely don't like the actual artist when you sit down and you talk to them. That's a real good dude. He got a real genuine soul. We clicked immediately. We had spoken probably one time before that.

complex.com/pigeons-and-planes/2016/07/kendrick-lamar-section-80-five-years

A$AP Rocky

Q: Has there been any mentorship taking place from Drake on this tour?
A: “It was more like friendship. He doesn’t know that when he’s on, I’m on the side of the stage just watching his performance, like studying. Laugh. And he’s just having fun. He does the same with me.
Like, what he does is like, “Yo, so I’ve got to be in my dressing room, but I’m going to be in the crowd, like all the way in the back, and I’m going to watch you.” I’m like, “Alright, cool.” We just chill.
Before meeting Drake, I was just like a regular average person. So I know what average people say about him. He doesn’t hear it of course because I don’t hear what average people say about me.
People come back to me and say, “Yo, they’re hating,” or “Yo, they’re loving you,” but he doesn’t really know what goes on. So people have bad s*** to say about him but I can guarantee if anybody meets that guy they’re going to love that guy. He’s just really a great guy.”

Q: What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from him?
A: "Humbleness and sincerity. He has more money than me. He has more b****es than me. He has more fame than me. And he’s more humble than I am."

Q: That’s a good quality.
A: "It’s the best quality. I feel like more people need to be like that. I would prefer to be modest than belligerent or arrogant. And he’s one of them niggas where—no homo—he can let his nuts hang. He could show his ass off, no homo.

We threw a party the other day. The whole time, Drake is in this corner just chilling. He’s talking to his homeboy, not even f***ing with the b****es. B****es are staring at him the whole time. They’re looking at me, staring at him.

When they look at me, I’m like, “Hey, get over here.” They look at him, he don’t even see them and s***. He’s just one of those cats, where it’s like—he knows. It’s on.. I’ve got mad love for Drake. That’s my brody right there. Shout out to Chubbs. That’s his boy. That’s his Yams."

Snoop Dogg
1:15

Stormzy
1:24:20

Andre 3000

”Now I talk to Drake, and I know he had to be like 10 when he was listening to what we were doing. You just never know who’s listening until you hear a connection. I didn’t even know Drake dug my music, I just liked him as a rapper because I felt he had a balance. I didn’t even know that he grew up listening to me. But it’s cool to know that it’s a real lineage thing. I’m happy to see Kanye and Wayne and Drake and all these new artists. They inspire me in a way because they reach back and they say, “Hey, we want to get you on these songs.”
theurbandaily.com/1812345/andre-3000-is-inspired-by-drake

Nas

"Drake is, man, what can he not do? He can sing, he can rap, and he talks about real s--t. What’s better than that, man? I love it.”

"I'm listening to] Drake and always Scarface," Nas revealed in an interview. "Drake is new. He's here to show anybody who questions him that he'll get at you. He's like fresh water right now on dry land. Scarface is the realist rapper. He's the most musically serious"

rapbasement.com/nas/063009-rapper-nas-talks-about-listening-to-drake-scarface-and-looking-forward-to-dr-dres-new-album.html

Talib Kweli

"He is a shining example for mainstream artists – he is a really good rapper, singer and he can write, he is like a triple threat.”

Frank Ocean

"Drake reached out to me when the record came out and paid me a compliment about the sound of it. I respect Drake not only as a creative person, but as a business mind as well. I think Drake’s important. The moral of the story is Drake’s ill, and I’m ill.
complex.com/music/2011/03/who-is-frank-ocean/drake

Jay Electronica

JAY Z

Kid CuDI

People love to point out similarities between you and Drake—do you view him as competition?

Kid Cudi: I think it’s just that Drake and me are the most creative out of the new up-and-coming MCs. Me and Drake are here not because of anything other than two niggas that have their own flavor. I’m doing my s***, nobody else can do my s***. Nobody else can do Wale’s s*** or Charles Hamilton’s s***. It’s like a bunch of Kool-Aid stands. It just matters whose flavor you like the most.

It seems like a lay-up for you and Drake to work together.

Kid Cudi: We’ll come together eventually, but I’m not trying to force this because there’s hype around us both. I want to work with Drake, yeah, but right now I don’t want to work with anyone who’s in the same creative realm as me. I’m still creating my own s***.

Has he reached out to work with you?

Kid Cudi: Drake had been wanting to do an official “Day ’N’ Nite” remix early on. He was one of my earliest supporters; that’s why I f*** with Drake on another level than just being a new artist.

ZAYN

James Blake

You're a fan, though? Of Drake?
Of Drake? Yes! Absolutely.

OK. And he's a fan of you - how does that feel, knowing it's reciprocal?
Well, I heard he had my album, and, that's big, you know? That's very big. It's big and it's also? It totally makes? I think we have some things in common. I would've never assumed that he'd be a fan of my music, but I do feel like we have some stuff in common, musically, I think.

It makes sense.
Yep. It makes sense that I like his music.

Why do you like his music?
Because he has an interesting way of being an outsider, but also being part of the game - just from where he's from, possibly, as well. From my experience, when you grow up outside of a city, or outside of a scene, or not from where that scene is normally from, or normally originates - so, for example, I grew up in suburban London, north of London, but dubstep and all that stuff started in Croydon South London, and around there; everything was going on more centrally in London, and further down from there. So, I suppose I've developed a style that - while certain dubstep DJs were playing my music - it could never really be true? Well, I guess it could fit into the dubstep genre, but it was never, like?

Coming from the same place?
It wasn't coming from the same place. So I find, in Drake's music, I find this slight outsider-ism that is really refreshing in the world of hip hop. I find his lyrics to be, very often, pretty meaningful and interesting, and just his wording and articulation is interesting. But most of all I think his productions are spot-on, and I know that 40, his producer, has done a great job.

oystermag.com/oyster-95-james-blake

Usher

“Drake has made it—well I mean, go back, I made it okay to rap over ballads. So I guess even the creation of artists like Drake, having been an inspiration for those artists, I guess that was my style at one point. And as I begin to create other things and go in other directions, it still was great inspiration for them. So when you hear music like Drake or music that 40 and them create, I feel great about it. I love it and I wanted to participate in it, but I didn’t think that I needed as many features because the music doesn’t call for it. Rick Ross was one on ‘Lemme See.’ I felt like that would complement the record and make it better and it was a surprise.”

Pharrell
51:05

Necessary thread. Thank you Viet. Drizzy is solidified by some of the greatest ever.

🔥🔥🔥 thread as usual.

Just dropped by the say that...and F*** The Weeknd.

Oh and F*** kid crazy too

Great thread

in

Schoolboy Q last year.

amazing work

Pusha T too

Thanks, feel free to keep posting any I’ve missed

quality thread

This is why you're the goat.

GOAT thread

I feel like there is a lot more praise from just pop stars and actors. Taylor Swift,Ed Sheeran,Beiber, Selena Gomez, Camila,Halsey,Adele,Lorde, etc. All have expressed a fondness for Drake's music. Then you have Yara, Issa Rae,Michael B.,etc.

Best thread. Gotta add Props from OGs like
project Pat, bun b, some members of wutang,

Yup this only the tip of the iceberg, gonna need a collaborative effort from the sxn to have it fully updated

These days it seems like a lot of people started giving him props simply because it was undeniable.

Like the complex top rappers of the decade. They say all the s*** they hate about him, but they can't logically put anyone above him.

Great thread

Will do Broski.

Jamie Foxx

“Drake is the new movement, man. You gotta think about what this kid has done, man. To have records on a mixtape, and then the next thing you know he's on top of the charts. And every time you mention him, people go crazy. I've had the chance to meet Drake and listen to his music. The volumes of music he's producing makes him a strong force that'll be around for a very long time. Because usually, when you see an artist of today, they do one thing — maybe they perform a song or do a great hook — but you seldom see a guy who can walk a song, all from the R&B end, and then to be on a track with Bun B ... and Bun B, he doesn't get on tracks with people unless it's really legit ... so I'm actually honored to have him on a track called 'Digital Girl,' and we will be working with each other in the future.”

Diddy

"Drake gave me advice for records when I needed somebody else, a fresh ear and he went above and beyond," Diddy said. "I appreciate him for that. This is a big record for us because of that and because of the way he treated me and we didn't really know each other. He treated me with so much respect, so much love. And he's one of my favorite MCs, period, so working with him was dope."

LL Cool J

"It's a lot of talented guys out there," LL explained in an interview. "Lil Wayne is talented. He seems to be the dominant figure in this particular era of hip-hop. So you know, he's doing his thing. I like Drake, you know, that 'You The Best' is a good record...It's a good song. There's a lot of talented guys out there so you know, kudos fellas."

T.I.*

"I think Drake is one of the coolest of the new kids, man," Tip said in an interview when asked about working with Drizzy in the studio. "I think he has an outstanding ability to do him without doing anything, anything else is doing, you know? I think he sets himself apart and as long as he's able to do that, he'll have his own lane in this thing that we called hip-hop."