Drake & Kanye: The Conversation That Brought Them Back Together
In a recent interview with Billboard, J. Prince spoke on how Kanye West and Drake got over their differences to come together for tonight’s (Dec. 9) “Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert.” The show is being held with the intent to draw awareness to prison reform and bring justice to incarcerated Chicago gang leader Larry Hoover.
“We have to start with the name Larry Hoover. He planted the seed,” said Prince.
“He wanted to see Kanye and Drake come together in the name of peace. His son Larry Jr. was hanging out with Kanye a lot, and of course, Drake is my son, but [Larry Hoover] planted the seed, and I watered it.”
“It was an interesting conversation, but the furthest thing from the truth regarding any kind of force,” said Prince. “I heard all kinds of rumors, and that was the furthest thing from the truth. To me, that moment was what I called an ‘anointing moment’ — because none of it was planned. It wasn’t planned where we had that meeting in that particular church, but me being a man of God, I couldn’t deny the invitation to actually meet him.”
J. Prince also mentioned how he had to be “brutally honest” with the Donda rapper:
“From there, I kept it real with him. I spoke some words that came from my heart — and Kanye, he acknowledged it. He said, ‘I ain’t ever had anyone ever talking to me like that.’ He was acknowledging me for being brutally honest with him. I felt another level of bonding with him at that particular moment.”
For Drake there was a different approach, the record label CEO told the Toronto rapper that this moment, coming together to free Larry Hoover, was bigger than the both of them.
“I painted the bigger picture to Drake. I let him know that this is a moment and movement that can save lives. I believe by Drake and Kanye being an example, as two of hip-hop’s top artists, that lives would be saved. I believe this is going to be imitated and it’s important to be an example to those that look up to you and that meant something to Drake — just the life-saving event wrapped around putting the spotlight on the injustice, prison reform, and my brother Larry Hoover. Everything is icing on the cake after that, because he never envisioned things like that. So I had to tap into a power greater than the anger or whatever these guys had for one another.”
Kanye and Drake’s benefit concert will stream tonight (Thurs. Dec. 9) on Amazon platforms.
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