It's easy to write off Drake as just another hip-hop hit machine — he doesn't produce the hardcore gangs-and-girls raps of Lil' Wayne or A$AP Rocky, and he doesn't flaunt his over-the-top bevy of yachts, magnums, and opulence like Jay-Z or Kanye West. But, in GQ's latest profile, the Degrassi star-turned-Top 40 mainstay is out to prove that he's an authority in the genre — and out to make hundreds of millions just like his predecessors.
Of course, Drake admits he doesn't come from quite the same place of hardship and struggle that most hip-hop songs are based on (he was raised in a middle-class Toronto 'hood), but that doesn't mean he hasn't experienced his own rap-star moments. The article opens with a scene straight out of a music video, with a booze- and groupie-filled pool party, and then there's his now-infamous club brawl with none other than Chris Brown — over none other than rumored former-flame Rihanna.
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He's hesitant to address his relationship with Rihanna, but he does cop to a beef with Brown. "I don't want my name to be synonymous with that guy's name," he tells the author. "I really don't. I wish we could sit down, just like you and me are right now, and talk it out man-to-man. But that's not going to happen. I'm not confrontational, but if someone challenges, I'm not going to back down."
When he's not defending his honor, it seems like Drake is mostly focused on raking in the millions, a goal he's surprisingly frank about. He's after a life most of us only know through following Jay-Z and Beyoncé in the tabloids (private jets, lavish vacations), and now that he's surpassed his goal of making $25 million by the time he was 25, he's aiming for $250 million in the next three years. Seriously. "I feel this great responsibility to see how far can we take it," he says. "How out of reach can I set that bar for whoever comes after. While I'm here, I'm gonna keep pushing that bar higher and higher up and make you really work for it."
It may seem lofty, but he claims he's as dedicated to raking in the dough as anyone in the business — so much so, that he barely even thinks about women (or so he says). "Sometimes I feel like I’m so focused on training my body and getting my mind right to create this album that sex isn’t one of my main priorities," he says. "If someone is around that I know and trust, I’m down. But I’m not going to end up with some stranger at this party." We're finding it hard to believe that part, but anyone who can keep mum on Rihanna clearly has superhuman restraint. Read the article in its entirety for more of Drake's musings on money and women, and to find out how that party really ended. (GQ)
Photo: Via GQ.