Jaden Smith's relationship to music juggernauts Drake, Donald Glover, and Kanye West has changed. In an interview with Complex, Smith explained that his burgeoning music career has warped his friendship with these titans of industry.
"I always felt like Little Homie before and that allowed me in all of their circles," he said, referring to Glover, Drake (née Aubrey Graham), and West. "But now that I’m on the charts next to them, I’m not really Little Homie anymore."
Smith, 19, implied that his high-profile friends felt betrayed when he released his debut album SYRE in November of 2017. The album climbed to number 24 on the Billboard 200 in December and cemented Smith as a formidable musical force. Prior to SYRE, Smith's future path seemed unclear: He had a fashion line, a few movies, a water company titled Just Water, and a potential music career. Smith was a teenager with multiple ambitions, all of which seemed to be grasping at straws. But SYRE's success meant Smith was now a contender, and Smith claimed this fueled tension between himself and his former mentors.
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"It's more like... 'We didn’t know you were making an album this whole time. We thought you were just Little Homie giving us free water and shit. You’re not really cool with us anymore,'" Smith said. ("Free water" refers to Smith's company Just Water, which sells water in paper boxes.)
This feels like a significant shift, considering Smith is closely adjacent to West and the Kardashian family. He's a good friend of Kylie Jenner's — he dyed his hair at her birthday party last year — and he was present at Kanye West's public proposal to Kim Kardashian. Perhaps this is just growing pains, though. If Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez can reconcile, then Kanye West, Donald Glover, and Drake can mend their relationship with Jaden Smith! Anything is possible!
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