Drake Talks About "So Far Gone"

Rapper/ Singer Drake recently had and interview with Complex Magazine about his latest mixtape So Far Gone. Catching a huge buzz lately, So Far Gone has been compared to Kanye's 808s and Heartbreaks. In his interview, the Young Money, Cash Money affiliate talks about his idea behind the mixtape, his relationship with Weezy, and his take on the Hip-Hop game today. Here's a snippit from the Complex interview:

Complex: Talk to us about So Far Gone. What was the idea behind it?

Drake: It’s basically a story. It starts in January 2008 when I was kinda confused like, What am I really doing? I gave up acting all together to really do this music thing, and I was really truly confused. It’s way different than acting, there aren’t people to depend on, you really have to build your own thing basically from the ground up, you know, so in January not only was I confused about my career, I was also in a very destructive sort of us exhausting relationship with a female and it was just a bad headspace for me to be in. So that’s where the tape starts.

It starts with this monologue, “Lust For Life”, of me crying out, in my head the things that I never say. The things that I was just thinking, that was my mindset. Then it goes to “Houstatlantavegas” which is about what I felt about the girl I was with. I just felt that nothing was ever good enough, and she was always searching for more excitement and then we move into “Successful.” I say at the end of the song, “There are so many things I want to say but I just don’t know how to say it to you.” I know exactly what I want to say, you know, I just want to be successful, but I don’t know if I can do it with you and then it goes into “Let’s Call It Off,” which is the breakup. And then coincidentally when I broke up with that girl a week later I went to Houston and met Lil Wayne and that’s where “November 18″ comes from.

Complex: How’d exactly did you wind up meeting Weezy?

Drake: My friend Jazz Prince—J Prince of Rap-a-Lot’s son—he played Wayne a couple of my songs and Wayne called me when I was in the barber chair getting a haircut, and he was like, “Dude, I just heard two songs from you and you got a whole CD of shit here, I don’t even need to hear anymore, I just need you here right now, can you get to Houston?” So I came out the next night. That was my first time in Houston and the culture and the city was so overwhelming. I felt like I hit Houston and got my swag back. I was single, I was with Wayne and it was Houston, I was going nuts, sipping drank, smoking, it was fun to me. And then you get “Ignorant Shit,” which is what came out of my meeting with Wayne.

Complex: Where did the title come from?

Drake: The whole tape extends from one of my closest friends Oliver—One night we were having a discussion about women and they way we were talking about them, it was so brazen and so disrespectful. He texted me right after we got off the phone and he was like, “Are we becoming the men that our mothers divorced?” That’s really where the cover comes from, too. It’ just this kid in pursuit of love and money. We’re good guys, I’m friends with some real good people and for him to even text me after we got off the phone it just showed we have a conscience. But sometimes you just get so far gone, you get wrapped up in this shit. The title has a lot of meanings—as the way we carry ourselves, the way we dress, the way people view us, not to sound cocky, it’s just that feeling that we’re just distanced in a good way. You’re just elevating past the bullshit and past all the shit that you used to be a part of and you’re not that proud of, you’re just so far gone.

Complex: Is your major label debut going to sound similar to So Far Gone?

Drake: My album is not going to sound like So Far Gone. It’s a well-rounded body of work that—again people will relate to what I’m saying, but the songs are made obviously to be sold to the public, so this was just my chance to think and write freely. It’s a solid hip hop album. I went left before—most go left after—my album comes out, so people will be like, Thank God, I thought he was about to do some weird shit. Some people go left after, when they feel more comfortable, but I feel comfortable with my talent.

To read the rest of the interview, check out Complex.com