Throughout his career, Drake has always embraced rising artists. From Migos to Fetty Wap back in the day to most recently Yung Bleu, the OVO rapper has often played a pivotal role in helping bubbling artists get their first chart hits. In recent years, one artist Drake has praised is Baby Keem. In an interview with Rap Pack, Keem talked about his relationship with Drake and how he almost ended up on Drake’s Scary Hours 2 cut “What’s Next.”
According to Keem, Drake reached out to him on DM a few months after his debut album, Die For My B-tch, dropped. “I just remember seeing a bunch of emojis,” said Keem. Drake previously called Die For My B-tch one of his two favorite albums of 2019. Keem reflected on his conversations with Drake on the Rap Pack.
“It wasn’t even a conversation on working,” said Keem. “It was, ‘Damn, I look up to you.’ Any advice I could soak up from him, I try to do that. I don’t know if we’ll ever work, we’ll see whatever happens in the process. There’s been some talks about it, but it gotta be the right record, it gotta be the right situation, the right timing.”
According to Rap Pack host Carl Cherry, producer Supah Mario told him Keem and Playboi Carti were supposed to be on Drake’s “What’s Next,” and asked Keem what happened to the record.
“I don’t know,” said Keem. “That’s just his process. I look at it like if we don’t work now, we work later. Especially with someone like Drake, that’s his process. I can’t hate on another man’s process. I do the same thing. I’m the coolest person, I can’t ever be emotional about somebody’s process. That’s their process, you have to respect it.”
Drake’s “What’s Next” debuted at No. 1, while the other two songs off the EP debuted at No. 2 and No. 3, making Drake the first artist to ever occupy the top three slots at once.
Keem is not the only artist who was supposed to be on Drake’s Scary Hours 2 but didn’t make the cut. Earlier this year, Florida rapper Rod Wave confirmed he was supposed to be on “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” but got cold feet and bowed out of the song.
Trippie Redd is another artist who infamously missed out on his chance to be on a Drake record. The Toronto rapper wanted Trippie to appear on his Diamond certified smash hit “God’s Plan,” but Trippie took too long to put together his verse and missed the deadline after he caught the flu.
Read all the lyrics to Drake’s “What’s Next” on Genius now.
