During a rare interview with DJ Semtex for OVOSOUND Radio, the 6 God, Drake spoke candidly about ghostwriting, Kanye West, Jay Z, and his Meek Mill feud. The interview also focused on Drizzy’s upcoming playlist, which he says is “an evolution of the mixtape.” On the issues with Meek Mill, ghostwriting and Quentin Miller, he said: “Quentin Miller is a kid I was introduced to through Boi-1da. Me and Boi-1da were working on a project at the time. I said to him, ‘I want to do a mixtape. I want to do it quick. I want to surprise people.’ I wanted him to executive produce it. We were working and going through the motions of building a project.’ He was like, ‘Yo, I got this kid and sometimes I send him beats and he cooks up ideas and his ideas are good. They need work, but they’re good.’ So, at the time, I was like, ‘Dope. Let’s collaborate. Line it up.’ I started working with this kid and I think we ended up doing about five songs together in total, a few of which were on that project and a few of which just made their way out. He was a guy I collaborated on music with. I’m proud to sit here in front of you and say that. Meek Mill, at the time, due to some issue with Nicki, whatever it was, decided to create a narrative, that I don’t write my own music, because that’s what was convenient for him at the time, and he caught wind of it. It’s unfortunate too because Quentin was being managed by DJ Drama and Don Cannon, who ended up really fucking his shit up because they were just messy with the shit unnecessarily. He decided to create this narrative where I don’t write my own music. The reason why I never felt pressured to sit down and defend myself right away or go do an interview is because anybody that was in those rooms, that worked on that project, or anybody that’s been in any room with me, period, knows first of all that I am one of the best writers period. That is what I do. That’s what I’m known for. I go and write for other people. I write my biggest songs, my biggest hits. The massive majority of my catalog has all been solely written by me, which is a big feat because music is a collaborative process. At that given time, with those isolated records, they just wouldn’t be what they were if it wasn’t for me, if it wasn’t for my pen, and my contributions to that. Not taking away from him. We did great work together in a very small space. It really just kind of blossomed into this thing where I became the poster child for ghostwriting, which is a huge conversation now in music. If I was an evil spirit, if I had a different agenda, I could sit here and tell you how the shit really works. I could sit here and tell you 10-20 people that are worse than me, that literally take everything, and it’s just a verbatim process. But I’m not like that. When my peers get a record, I’m happy. It’s great. It doesn’t matter where it comes from. I don’t care. But for me, it was a big deal because it wasn’t the truth. If I have to be the poster child for it and if you choose to, after finding out about the situation, discredit my entire catalog or my career, you were going to discredit me anyway. I’ve come to peace with that. When it came to that writing situation, I never felt the urge to have to defend myself because if you ask about any of the biggest Drake records ever, I’ve done them all. If you ask about those Quentin Miller sessions, I was there. I was working. There would be no second half of ‘Know Yourself.’ And the bars wouldn’t be as good if it wasn’t for me on any of those songs. We sit down and we talk about cadences and we talk about which lines to do and that’s just what a collaborative experience is. If people are that naive and they think that that doesn’t go on in music, then you’re out of your mind.”
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