Hip-hop star Drake has been one of the biggest names on the Young Money label for a few years now. But lately there have been whispers that maybe the Toronto native is trying to strike out on his own — perhaps intentionally distancing himself from the label that made him famous. Since he released his YMCMB debut Thank Me Later back in 2010, some believe that he’s been acting more as a free agent. During a recent interview, Hot 97s Funkmaster Flex asked another Young Money superstar, Nicki Minaj, about her labelmate and his current status.
“Is he not in Young Money?” Flex asked. “I’m not saying it’s wrong — but something is definitely not the same as the first album [with Drake]. That’s how I feel. How do you feel?”
“People’s perception of their reality is their perception of their reality,” Minaj replied. “Sometimes people make moves based on their perception of what reality is. I know that sounds like a riddle, but maybe one day you’ll be able to unravel that one. All I can say is this, Lil Wayne is everything to me. I can’t speak for anyone else. What Young Money and Cash Money did for Nicki Minaj, I can never repay them for. So, I am forever indebted to them. Whatever happens with any other artist, I don’t know.”
“[Drake’s] so talented,” she continued. “Sometimes … when you’re really intelligent and you’re really talented, you also think a lot. Sometimes your mind is racing with thoughts. It is what it is. People go through their own motions and you’ve gotta respect it and keep it moving. We all love the team. We all love Wayne. That’s what’s gonna always hold us together. Drake is my baby because that’s how it was when we came in. So whenever I think of him, ‘That’s my baby.’ Whatever is going on now, obviously we’re all very busy and you know, shit happens. It gets a little hard to have a real connection when people are on different sides of the world, working on different things. You just never know who people got in their ear or what they’re feeling or maybe they felt wronged in some way. I don’t know. I just know that Drake is my baby and Wayne is my everything.”
Flex then asked if Drizzy was taking subliminal shots at Nicki by referencing artists who want him to appear on their albums.
“On a lot of his songs, he makes references to making appearances or people asking him for appearances on a song,” Flex said. “I hear him talk about that or people sweating him for a verse … did you ever feel like he was responding to somebody specific? Did you ever feel he was referring to you on those songs or not really?”
“I’ve never taken that personal,” Minaj said. “I think that when you are in a place where Drake is, which is, everybody is asking him for a verse or a feature, sometimes, it is what it is. He’s speaking the truth. However he decides to take that, whether he is taking that as a compliment or not, I don’t know. But, he’s speaking the truth and I think he’s speaking about every-damn-body. I’m not exempt from that and neither is anyone else. If you’ve been asking him for a verse or a song or done a verse or a song with him, then maybe you are included. I don’t know, but he’s not lying.”
