Drake Addresses Being Called A Culture Vulture And Is Now Beefing With UK Legend Wiley
“It is what it is,” Drizzy explained. “I see a lot and I’ll never understand how supporting somebody’s song or even going a step further and giving somebody a song or linking up. I’ll never understand how that’s not viewed as something admirable but I guess people have their own outlook on it.” Drake said it’s something that’s been “bothering” him, at which point he said, “It’s Wiley that said that, I’ll just say his name because that was some goofy shit.”
Its a worldwide ting!
Since he doesn’t do the normal interview circuit as every other rapper, it’s become rare to hear Drake talk this freely and especially on delicate subjects like this. For context, Aubrey has been a frequent collaborator with artists from a million different backgrounds and nationalities in the past 5 years. So much so that people started heavily criticizing him for being a “culture vulture”, basically arguing that he’s using all of these smaller people or random cultures for his own gain.
As a huge Drake fan since 2009 when I first heard “Ransom” with Lil Wayne, I’ve heard it all. Some people accuse him of code switching and talking in a British accent, which I have NO IDEA about at all or understand where that comes from.
One of the earliest examples that started the criticism was 2013’s Versace Remix. People claimed that Drake jumped on their wave and tried to take credit for their success when they were about to blow up anyways. It also popularized the “Migos flow”, which he adopted for his verse, that went on to become synonymous with a trillion trap rappers in the past 5 years.
Which then lead to him adding countless collabs with artists from all over the globe as he’s gotten bigger and bigger.
Ojuelegba (Remix) ft. Wizkid & Skepta (Nigeria/United Kingdom)
KMT feat. Giggs (United Kingdom)
Which was accused of stealing XXXTentacion’s flow
(Even unfurling a giant British OVO flag during their performance at the Wireless Festival)
Come Closer with Wizkid
Sweeterman Remix – Ramriddlz (Unknown at the time artist out of Toronto)
The extremely Jamaican (and originally featuring Popcaan) Controlla
Or the “Cha Cha Remix” aka Hotline Bling
While its pretty clear to see how people can take this angle against Drake, I tend to agree with him that there’s not much he can do to stop them from saying this type of stuff other than not showing love to anybody underneath him (which now includes everybody). His success is definitely going to cause people to hate him, just as they have from the very beginning when he was a Jewish Canadian child actor singing about his feelings while skyrocketing up the charts and getting more popular by the month. He may never be able to fully escape the criticism, even though a Drake co-sign can completely take someone’s career from nothing to international attention within 6 hours.
Most artists would KILL for a Drake feature, and even if it benefits him in the process it normally is a net positive for all involved.
Now Drizzy seems to be potentially involved in a budding beef with UK Grime legend Wiley for calling him out.
Whether the beef with Wiley goes anywhere or not, its interesting to see him respond to the criticism after all this time.