Drake's Tweets On Being Bumped Off Rolling Stone's Cover For Philip Seymour Hoffman Spark Outrage; Singer Apologizes

by uInterviewFebruary 14, 2014, 12:00 amNews >

Drake is fuming, claiming that Rolling Stone misquoted him in an interview and tweeted anger at being bumped off the cover for Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Drake Tweets Anger At Rolling Stone

The long interview with Drake was released online on Thursday, Feb. 13, and was, presumably, meant to be a cover story. However, with the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, it seems the magazine bumped Drake’s cover, supposedly breaking some sort of agreement with the singer and causing him to lash out on Twitter. In a series of tweets, Drake called out Rolling Stone for mishandling the cover change and also accused them of misquoting him in the extensive interview:

“I never commented on Yeezus for my interview portion of Rolling Stone. They also took my cover from me last minute and ran the issue. – Drizzy”

“I’m disgusted with that. RIP to Philip Seymour Hoffman. All respect due. But the press is evil. – Drizzy”

Drake then took to Twitter to announce his decision to swear off all interviews, writing, “I’m done doing interviews for magazines. I just want to give my music to the people. That’s the only way my message gets across accurately.”

I'm done doing interviews for magazines. I just want to give my music to the people. That's the only way my message gets across accurately.

— Drizzy (@Drake) February 13, 2014

In the article, Drake touches upon his respect for Jay-Z and Kanye West, admitting that the two rappers paved the way for him to take the stage and calling them “gods.” That said, Drake is also quoted as offering some criticism of Kanye West’s most recent album, Yeezus, questioning some of the lyrics.

“There were some real questionable bars on there. Like that ‘Swaghili’ line? Come on, man. Even Fabolous wouldn’t say some s—t like that,” Drake said.

Drake Apologizes For Philip Seymour Hoffman Comments

On Friday, Feb. 14, Drake took to his blog to expand on his tweets, which have since been deleted, saying that his anger was not directed towards Rolling Stone for replacing his cover with Philip Seymour Hoffman, but for how the magazine conducted the change.

“I completely support and agree with Rolling Stone replacing me on the cover with the legendary Philip Seymour Hoffman. He is one of the most incredible actors of our time and a man that deserves to be immortalized by this publication. My frustration stemmed from the way it was executed,” Drake writes.

Drake stresses that the day following the release of the interview and the fallout from his tweets was “an extremely emotional day,” though he chose to only comment on the cover change in his blog post, and not his issues regarding the content of interview. Still, Drake continues his blog post by acknowledging that Rolling Stone’s decision to put Hoffman on the cover was “completely justifiable,” but he would have preferred to postpone his interview completely.

“They ran the issue without giving me a choice to be in it or not. I would have waited until it was my time because I understand the magnitude of the cover they chose but I just wasn’t given that option and that made me feel violated,” Drake added.

The rapper also took the opportunity to address Hoffman’s family, saying, “I apologize to anybody who took my initial comments out of context because in no way would I ever want to offend the Hoffman family or see myself as bigger than that moment.”

In an odd move considering he is accusing the magazine of misquoting him, Drake ends his post by thanking Rolling Stone for the chance to be featured on the cover of the legendary magazine.

“I respect Rolling Stone for being willing to give a kid from Toronto a shot at the cover. I guess this is a day to learn and grow,” Drake concludes.

In his apology, Drake does not comment on the interview, either to own up to or deny ever critiquing Yeezus, nor does he touch upon his declaration of refraining from future interviews. Rolling Stone, meanwhile, told E! News, “We stand by our reporting.”

Drake Rolling Stone Interview Highlights

The Yeezus criticism and the Philip Seymour Hoffman cover controversy were not the only things making Drake’s Rolling Stone interview big news. In the interview, Drake teases at a possible future collaboration with Kanye West and also takes a mild shot at Jay-Z, critiquing his recent obsession with rapping about art, saying, “It’s like Hov can’t drop bars these days without at least four art references! I would love to collect at some point, but I think the whole rap/art world thing is getting kind of corny.”

Drake also showers Jay-Z and Kanye West with praise for their hit “Ni—as in Paris” from Watch the Throne, a song he says inspired him to write the first single off Nothing Was The Same, “Started from the Bottom.”

“I was like, ‘How did I not think of that?’ – ‘Bal so hard, that s—t cray!’ IT was real rap s—t, but it felt melodic; all the cadences felt so good,” Drake gushed.

Drake’s admiration doesn’t stop there.

“Kanye’s the reason I’m here. I love everything about that guy,” the rapper declares.

Neither West nor Jay-Z has commented on the interview.

– Olivia Truffaut-Wong

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