Drake Opens Up About Rivalry With Meek Mill

Over the past few years, Drake and Meek Mill's beef evolved from angry tweets, to diss tracks, to a full on feud interview that both rappers have been forced to address in interviews. In an interview with OVO Sound on Saturday, Drake said he isn't proud of the Meek Mill feud and wants to move on, openly discussing it for the first time since it occurred. The hour-long interview also addressed many other topics, from the Grammys to Kanye West. In the interview, DJ Semtex asked Drake directly how it felt when Meek Mill started their rap beef. Drake went on the defensive, saying that it was "impulsive" of Meek to pick the fight. However, he also noted that his response might have been premature.

“My mind was going a thousand miles a minute, I didn’t know who was going to be on a diss track or what he had ready. I thought this was three months in the making," Drake told Semtex. "When I dropped ‘Charged Up,’ just to kinda see what the preparation level was, I realized—oh wow you’re not ready.” Last Fall, Meek Mill opened up about the feud in an interview with Taxstone on VLAD TV, explaining why he didn't respond. "Because I wasn't really, I was on tour at this time when all that sh*t was going on," Meek Mill said. "When I record, I don't really record like that. I always move at my time."

For anyone who needs a quick brush-up, the beef began in 2015, when Meek Mill accused Drake of not writing his own raps on Twitter. The Internet, and many from the rap community, chimed in, taking sides or using the opportunity to speak out against ghostwriting. Drake responded with the song "Charged Up," which accused Meek of trying to take advantage of his fame. Over the next year, the two came for each other in various verses, but eventually the drama quieted down.

Unlike other famous rap feuds, Meek Mill's claims of fraud leave really means there isn't any underlying respect between the two artists. Many have compared it to the rivalry between Nas and Jay-Z, who after years of fighting, made peace as two titans of the industry. A mutual appreciation for the others' art has emerged between Nas and Jay-Z after years of jabs and personal attacks, but Drake doesn't see that kind of conclusion. The rapper told DJ Semtex that the he and Meek Mill will never reach that point of mutual respect because of Meek's behavior. Yet, he also notes his own conduct isn't unworthy of critique.

“I respect revenge when it’s warranted," Drake told Semtex, explaining why he went back into the studio to record "Back to Back, a follow up diss track. "It’s not something that I’m proud of because it took just as much of an emotional toll on me — maybe not as much as it did on him — but you always gotta hear about it and just seeing people get so riled up on negativity, it doesn’t feel great. It was just embarrassing to witness, you know? If he had revealed some huge thing, you know, you would [have] heard a lot more people, peers of mine chime in.”

Last Fall, Meek Mill told Taxstone the following about his feud with Drake: "Yeah, we don't got no real problem. We don't have no real problem."

In the rest of the OVO interview, Drake argues that Meek Mill tried to shape a narrative and portray Drake as "the poster child for ghostwriting." However, Drake also argued that he is pretty immune to the criticism, and confident in his raps. "Anybody that’s been in any room with me, period, knows first of all knows that I am one of the best writers, period," Drake told DJ Semtek. "That is what I do. That is 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 catalogue has all been written solely by me, which is a big feat, because music is a collaborative process."

Will Meek Mill directly respond to this interview? Only time will tell if this will reignite the feud or finally bury it for good. In the meantime you can catch the rare interview below, and hear Drake talk about a whole range of topics, from avoiding the Grammys, loving Grime music, and Kanye West.