S. Samuel
Young Money associate Drake recently gave his thoughts on teen rapper Soulja Boy Tell Em and titled the emcee as one of smartest artists of his generation.
Along with Soulja Boy, Drake also spoke on the success of Lil Wayne‘s mixtape hustle.
“Your fans have to feel like you’re riding for them,” Drake explained in a phone interview. “And that’s when your fan base becomes a bunch of followers as opposed to a bunch of people who just listen to your music. When they really support you non-stop is when they feel you’ve given them something. So Wayne did the right thing. Yeah, it was great to learn from him and sort of take that mentality and tweak it a bit and make it mine. Soulja Boy is the smartest artist of our generation, I think period and I think out of anybody. Whoever it is, whether it’s him or his team or the people around him, whoever has the thoughts to do the things he does, is genius and I’m so happy for him.” (YouTube)
Soulja Boy was also praised by rap pioneer Scarface.
“I think the Internet is what’s wrong with rap right now,” he explained in an interview. “Because it’s no way to filter garbage. You say some dumb-a** sh*t, and you get a million hits on your Web site…And Soulja Boy is not included…He getting money and he’s my son’s age. I like the way he do it. I think he got the potential to be the next Russell [Simmons]. I’m giving him some big-a** shoes to stand beside but if that kid really focus on finding talent and marketing that sh*t like he is now at f*cking 18, 19-years-old, I ain’t mad at it.” (Vibe)
However, rap newcomer Charles Hamilton recently called out the rapper’s music as an example of what is wrong with the state of rap radio.
“Inspirational hip-hop music, and nowadays it’s gotten to the point where, n*gga, an inspirational hip-hop song is ‘Turn My Swag On’,” Hamilton said in an interview. “F*ck outta here n*gga, like that’s the best you can do in the mainstream? No, I’m not trying to hear that. That’s really not where I’m at.” (Hard Knock TV)
Aside from the recording booth, the rapper will kick-off a nationwide tour with both Weezy and Soulja Boy next month.
The Young Money Presents: America’s Most Wanted Music Festival will be the follow up to Lil Wayne’s very successful “I Am Music Tour” playing a total of 47 arena dates across the US. After an opening act, Drake will perform, followed by Soulja Boy and Young Jeezy‘s sets with Lil Wayne closing out the show. The tour will kick off on July 27, 2009 at the Toyota Pavillion in Scranton, Pennsylvania and end on August 23, 2009 at the Superpages.com Center in Dallas, Texas. (The Urban Daily)
Check out Drake’s brief interview below:
