S. Samuel
Young Money rapper Drake has confirmed recent speculation that he is working on an R&B mixtape and promised to put the project out for free.
Drake said that his inability to put out free rap albums motivated him to switch things up and drop an all-R&B tape.
“Me and 40 working on it,” Drake said in Toronto at his OVO Festival. “I got you. I think I got a great body of work with that tape. I’m gonna do it like I do all my other tapes. I’m gonna make a night out of it. Just make sure you’re on the Net that night downloading, and it’s yours. I feel the people deserve it. It’s hard for me to put out free rap albums these days. So the best I can do is switch genres and put something out for free. It’ll be yours very soon.” (MTV)
In a recent interview, Drake said his emcee skills outshined his R&B talent.
“I could never really take singing on the road the way I can take rapping on the road. I can’t get on stage and blow people away with my range and vocals. I’m a studio singer because I can convey emotion and I have unique melodies, so that’s kind of what I pride myself on, but that’s where it stops. I make music more for people to listen to rather than to hold me as an R&B artist. Not to wish that I couldn’t sing better. If I could sing like Trey [Songz] then yeah, I’d definitely just want to be a singer. If I could do anything, trust me, I wish I could just sit at the piano and sing.” (VIBE)
Last January, Drake opened up about his ability to write R&B and hip-hop songs.
“With R&B, I know my sound. I know I make records to f*ck to,” he explained in an interview. “The way Jay and Wayne write rap, I write R&B. I don’t write lyrics down on paper. The other day, I was in the studio with Alicia Keys, and I wrote two songs just speaking to her. I wish I could write that way for rap. With my rap songs, there’s so much of me I have to give that I don’t know if I could ever just flow. The thing is, I’m a great rapper. There’s two elements to rap: having the thoughts, and then being a great rapper. I can really rap the sh*t that I write. My tone, my inflection. When I listen to myself on records, I don’t feel like I don’t belong there. When I listen to ‘Forever,’ with three of my heroes, I fit right in.” (Complex)
Drake previously discussed working with R&B superstar Rihanna on her Rated R album.
“Rihanna has a great album,” Drake said in an interview. “She’s got great records that she’s using, she’s got great records that she’s not even using that she has for a later date. I’m excited for her. She deserves everything that she gets…We did do some great work together and hopefully it’ll find it’s place on some project one day. The record we have is great. It’s a special record, so for it not to make it, I know something had to click. It’s all good. I think the project’s gonna be great no matter what.” (Rap-Up)
A release date for the forthcoming R&B mixtape has not yet been revealed.
Check out some recent Drake footage down below:
