The rapper Drake and his team left “pissed” after their collaboration
East Coast emcee Benny The Butcher has been a respected name in hip-hop since he first came to prominence in 2016. Alongside Westside Gunn and Conway, the Machine, as part of Griselda, Benny The Butcher has become one of the most prolific MCs on the East Coast.
However, despite the sonic hegemony and declining standards in hip-hop music, he has managed to retain a cult following by maintaining musical integrity with his albums, including Burden Of Proof and Tana Talk 4. As such, he has attracted the attention of many and collaborated with many top-tier mainstream acts, including Drake.
Despite the diabolical year he has had, Drake has been the most popular rapper of the past decade and has undeniably been the most successful commercially. That said, it is unsurprising that Benny The Butcher was extremely happy when he got the chance to record with him.
However, due to the industry’s “mechanics,” the record never saw the light of day and was shelved. Furthermore, the track never received an official release date, and communication with Drake went down from there.
During an interview with Joe Budden on the Conversation Lovers Only podcast, the Buffalo artist admitted that he was extremely angry and upset with Drake when he realised that the superstar had abandoned the release of their song due to his own personal schedule.
When asked by Budden how he felt after the team-up with Drake became redundant, the lyricist responded, “I was pissed, I’m not gonna lie. I was pissed, man. It’s a f****** Drake record! It was surely my biggest record… And the record’s just sitting in my pocket.”
Still, the 38-year-old artist says he understands changes that other artists need to make in terms of their release schedule, adding, “I don’t know [what happened] neither. I can’t speak for [Drake] and his team.” The Tana Talk 3 creator even explained that he has had to do similar things before, telling Budden, “I got schedules! I might do a feature for somebody, and they be like, ‘Benny, we ready to drop this Tuesday.’ And I’m like, ‘N****, you ain’t dropping that Tuesday ’cause we holding off, I got this.'”
However, due to Drake’s stature in music overall, Benny The Butcher said that Drizzy’s schedule must be very hectic, so he understands why a lot of people probably have to take a backseat when it comes to collaborations, adding, “That’s the biggest artist in the world, so I understand his release schedule might be hectic or he might have people that be like, ‘We can’t drop that right now because we doing this.’ I understand that. He’s the name, but he represents a lot of people that he works with, and his moves affect a lot of people, so I understand that part.”
Still, the Buffalo native doesn’t take the loss to heart towards Drake or the OVO camp, and when asked if he harbours any ill-will concluded, “No way did I take it like, ‘Damn, he f***** me over!’ I swear to God, I don’t take it like that because this is muthaf**king Drake, the biggest artist in the world. Even for him to hit me up personally, that lets me know where he at.”