Kanye West Credits Drake In Helping Him Shed His Ego


Kanye West is known for his loud antics. For instance, it’s not an award show if West isn’t throwing at least one fit either in front of the camera or backstage at an award show. While his defenders will say that his ego his warranted, given his talent, West is saying that he finally has gotten over his ego.

One would think having a family would ground the Grammy-winning rapper, but as it turns out, West credits rapper Drake with helping him shed his ego. Drake is known for being a rare artist in the rap game, due to his lack of bravado, something we know that Kanye doesn’t lack in the least bit.

According to Vibe, West spoke at a scheduled speaking engagement at the Oxford Guild Society, where he of course referred to himself in the third person.

“One of my biggest problems, one of my biggest Achilles’ heels has been my ego. And if I, Kanye West, the very person, can remove my ego, I think there’s hope for everyone.”

So where does Drake come into this? Well, Kanye brings up Drake, referring to him as a “human being named Drake,” and goes on to share an anecdote he learned from Drake defeating him on the music charts.

“I think that that’s been a progression of mind with the advent of a human being named Drake. You know, this idea of holding onto a No. 1 spot. And then you get this guy that comes and blows out the water, every No. 1 of any band ever. Be it me or Paul McCartney. And at the point, you know, when you’ve lost the idea of holding onto that concept, you can leave the mountaintop finally, and walk down, and readjust, and see what your position on earth can be.”

Taking a page out of his own notebook, West referred to the barriers he has had to overcome in the music world, and refers to himself as a servant, which references his track “Black Skinhead.”

“I’ve had all of these mixed emotions, mixed feelings, based off you know, bigotries, walls, perceptions that I’ve had to deal with. Now I understand that I’m a servant. And with my voice, and with the information and my ability to build relationships with amazing people, speak to amazing people.”

In a way, that’s a lot of credit handed over to Drake, especially coming from Kanye West, who doesn’t hand out compliments or credits easily. This street goes both ways, as Drake has publicly stated that he thinks very highly of Kanye. In fact, in 2013 he told Vibe magazine that he’s only in competition with West, and doesn’t consider anyone else as actual competition to worry about in the grand scheme of things.

When it comes to other new and emerging rappers, such as Kendrick Lamar, who is having a huge impact on the hip-hop game, Drake said he’s not taking the bait, and compared himself to former NBA basketball player Michael Jordan. While it’s nothing compared to West’s self comparison to Steve Jobs, Drake went on to say, “I don’t ever want to get into responses. It’s a commitment to go there. ‘The Language’ is just energy. Jordan doesn’t have to play pickup to prove that he could play ball, offense.”

We recently reported that Drake is up for five Grammys, while Kanye West is up for three, that said it’s Kendrick Lamar who’s coming up on both West and Drake with the most nominations — 11 total.

What do you think about Kanye West’s comments on losing the top spot to Drake?

[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]

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