‘Drake is pop to me’, Mos Def claims rapper’s music is not real hip-hop

Yasiin Bey, a.k.a Mos Def, is one of the most famous rappers in the ‘90s. His career sky-rocketed in 1997 with the release of his first single, Universal Magnetic. In recent years, Drake has secured a top spot in the hip-hop industry. However, Yasiin seems to disagree with this. Despite Drake’s popularity and chart-topping success, the 50-year-old rapper has claimed the God’s Plan hitmaker’s music is not “real hip-hop.”
During his appearance on a recent episode of The Cutting Room Floor podcast, Yasiin spoke at length about Drake’s music not qualifying as hip-hop. However, before sharing his opinion, Yasiin hesitated at first when podcaster Omondi asked, “Is Drake hip-hop?” To this, he remarked, “Why you doing this to me?”
The Do It Now rapper continued, “In the sense, like, if I was in Target in Houston and I heard a Drake song… It feels like a lot of his music is compatible with shopping. Or, you know, shopping with an edge in certain instances.”
He went on to call Drake’s music “likeable” as he gave a side-eye to the podcaster. Yasiin then chuckled and sarcastically added, “So many products! So many SKUS! Look at all these SKUs!” “I love this mall. Look at this place! I mean, look at this place! They have everything! Everything’s here. Oh, this is great. This is the new Drake, you hear it? It’s great.”
Proposing the idea that Drake’s fame won’t last for long, Yasiin remarked, “What happens when this thing collapses? What happens when the columns start buckling? Are we not in some early stage of that at this present hour? Are we seeing the collapse of an empire?”
“Buying and selling, where’s the message that I can use? You know, what’s in it for your audience apart from banging the pom-poms?” he added.