Drake on If He Ever Uses Ghostwriters
Grammy-winning rapper Drake transformed over the past decade from actor-turned-rapper into global superstar with countless hits to his name. After he’d become a famous rapper, rumors began to swirl about Drake’s role in the writing of his music and just how much he relies on ghostwriters to write his lyrics. The Canadian rapper has addressed the ghostwriting allegations in the past.
Drake was rumored to use ghostwriters
Drake first rose to prominence as an actor on the hit show Degrassi: The Next Generation. He released his debut mixtape Room For Improvement in 2006; his sophomore mixtape Comeback Season was released the following year on his newly-created record label, October’s Very Own.
Drake’s star continued to rise in the subsequent years. He released his debut studio album Thank Me Later in 2010, and dominated the airwaves — and the charts — in the early 2010s with his albums Take Care and Nothing Was the Same.
In February 2015, Drake proved his prowess as a rapper once again with his surprise mixtape, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late; he released a second mixtape with Future, What a Time to Be Alive, later that year.
After the release of If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, Drake became embroiled in a feud with rapper Meek Mill after Mill alleged that Drake doesn’t write his own music. Mill claimed that he had a ghostwriter write for him on his guest verse on “R.I.C.O.” from Mill’s 2015 album Dreams Worth More Than Money.
Drake addressed the ghostwriter allegations
Drake addressed allegations that he had relied on songwriter Quentin Miller to write his music in a 2017 interview for OVO Sound Radio.
“Quentin Miller is a kid that I was introduced to through [If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late producer] Boi-1da,” Drake said. “Me and Boi-1da were working on a project at the time. I had said to him, ‘I really want to do a mixtape. I want to do it quick. I want to surprise people.’ And I wanted him to executive produce it.”
“We were working and were going through the motions of building a project, and he was like, ‘Yo, I got this kid, and sometimes I send him beats and he just cooks up ideas,'” Drake continued.
“At the time, I was like, ‘Alright, dope. Let’s collaborate. Let’s line it up,'” he went on. “I started working with this kid and I think we ended up doing about five songs together in total, a few of which were on that project and a few of which just made their way out.”
“He was a guy that I collaborated on music with, and I’m proud to sit here in front of you and say that,” Drake said.
In a 2019 Rap Radar interview, Drake addressed the rumors again, specifically discussing Miller’s role in If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. “I pulled my weight when it came to my pen,” he said. “Anybody that knows me knows that my strongest talent is writing… That’s why people ask me to write songs for them.”
He’s been nominated for songwriting
Over the years, Drake has earned nominations for Lyricist of the Year at the BET Hip Hop Awards and Best Lyrics at the iHeart Radio Music Awards. And his claim that other artists employ him as a writer isn’t wrong: in 2022, Drake wrote Beyoncé‘s song “Heated” from her Renaissance album.
