Complex: You have three of the best young R&B artists in the game on this tape, but fewer up and coming MCs. Are you as cool with the new generation of rappers? Were you upset that you weren’t on the XXL Freshman 10 cover?
Drake: I’m actually very grateful I wasn’t on that cover, to be honest. I feel like everybody that was on there deserved to be on there; I’m a fan of a lot of those guys. I just think I have a different path, a different story to tell. To be put in that group is a like a gift and a curse. So to be the one guy that wasn’t on there that everyone talks about or should have been in there is kind of a good thing. It kind of creates a little bit of fun tension. I like getting my own thoughts out right now, I have fans to solidify, so that’s why I don’t do tracks with too many younger rappers or newer artists. People may consider me to be a music snob or whatever, but I like to preserve what’s mine and I also don’t just do tracks to do tracks, I make every song with a purpose. But… me and Wale are real close friends, we talk a lot, man. I listen to Kid Cudi’s shit all the time. Chuck Inglish from the Cool Kids hit me up and was giving me all the compliments in the world—we’re real cool.
