🎤🎧 📻 my first Drake interview
hip hop's new daily operation | 6.15.20
Elliott calls you up, says, let’s have a conversation in front of the world. You kinda wanna show up and do it. — Drake, 2010
TheMotto No. 43 falls on the 10th anniversary of Drake’s debut, Thank Me Later. In 2010, the album sold 447,000 copies in its first week, and debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s albums chart. Six months after the album’s release, I interviewed Drake for the first time at Shade 45/Sirius XM. It happened toward the end of a very transitional time for me — I’d been trying to figure out who — and how — I was going to be in the post-XXL era. I’d been friendly with Drake since So Far Gone broke in February 2009. I’m pretty sure Nah Right was his favorite site at the time, but I think Aubrey shouted me out a couple of times on Ustream, and I definitely pulled up on him at NYC’s Alife. A-Trak looks way more interested in what I have to say than The Boy. Ha! Seriously he always gave me OG respect.
top billin’:
Around the same time, Angela Yee had just left to launch The Breakfast Club with CThaGod and DJ Envy, and I had my heart set on becoming a true radio personality. We launched the Rap Radar website in March 2009, and I felt like being on the radio would keep me even further in tune with the culture. I studied Angie Martinez and Funkmaster Flex — and reconfirmed my thought that big radio hosts book big guests. Getting Drake on Shade 45 (and to Sirius’ NYC studios for the first time ever) was a huge deal. You couldn’t tell me I wasn’t about to be the hip hop Howard Stern.
But well before The Breakfast Club, Angela Yee looked out for me during one of my toughest times. When I got fired from XXL in January 2008, I struggled to figure out what my next moves would be. I had Rap Radar on the horizon, but a workaholic like myself needed a daily purpose. Cipha Sounds had left Shade 45, and Yee assumed main host duties. When she openly asked possible male co-hosts to audition, I jumped at the chance. I thought it was dope. Conventional radio structure is old-fashioned and sexist: male on lead mic, the host with the most. Then a woman on the No. 2 mic, bringing news and info. She presents topics but rarely has room to truly speak on them. Male No. 3 mic is color commentary —left field, hot takes.
From the jump, I was impressed by Yee’s work ethic and show prep. She played up the image of partying, but she was always on-time and set to broadcast. Yee was patient with me when I made rookie mistakes like talking over people, or letting my energy get low — and she even made me self-aware of my laugh. The show’s producer, DJ Wonder made a drop of it that they often played during the show, even when it got on my nerves. And things were starting to turn a corner for me.
I completed one of the most special projects in my career during this tough time. My wife was editor-in-chief of Vibe magazine, with a genius team. I was assigned to a cover story on Jay-Z for Vibe’s 15th anniversary Juice issue. I flew to Cork, Ireland to conduct the interview, and when it was delayed, the next thing I know I’m flying private to London for the Jay-Z’s 2008 Glastonbury set (the below ⏬ is from the Contributors page in Vibe)
I even touched the actual Glastonbury stage — 150,000 people in attendance. Two months before the show, Oasis’ Noel Gallagher had said, “I’m sorry, but Jay-Z? No chance.— I’m not having hip hop at Glastonbury. It’s wrong.” So there was some concern that there might be drama when Jay-Z walked on stage — maybe someone would throw a bottle. Didn’t happen. Show was legendary. Interview went well (great editing by then Vibe music editor Sean Fennessey, and authors Rob Kenner and Benjamin Meadows-Ingram, with final approval by Danyel). And even though I couldn’t even get Hov to confirm he was married, I did make People.
Back at Shade 45, we were preparing for a show, and the big news was that Jay-Z had been the first and only guest at the final show of Kanye West’s 2008 Glow In The Dark tour. He came up out of the bottom of the MSG stage and performed the unreleased “Jockin’ Jay-Z”.
Big hosts book big guests. Jay called into The Morning After on his way to City Hall to discuss his feelings on the Vibe cover and his upcoming Blueprint 3.
Even in 2010, Drake wouldn’t do an interview if he was parched. We sipped Pinot Grigio Santa Margherita and club soda on ice during our half-hour convo and he played bartender with his “flawless pour.” Drake talked on the then-new demand for recording artists to keep putting out material. He said he’d read the bad reviews of Thank Me Later. He said he was already working on his next album, Take Care.
“No matter how good [Thank Me Later] is,” he said, “It’s just going to be an accomplishment. A stage to get past, so I can continue to make great music. Never meant to be my greatest hour.” Guess it was never meant to be for me to be a radio host. Maybe later.
what more can I say:
if the spotlight / makes you nervous ⤵️
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a danyelliott production
Danyel Smith + Elliott Wilson