Rappers are known for occasionally making outlandish claims, but the latest claim from noted rap pioneer Soulja Boy may take the cake for most bizarre, with just a large enough nugget of truth thrown in to really warrant some consideration. In a new interview with Hot 97’s The Breakfast Club, Soulja claimed that Drake blew up by biting his flow, saying: “I taught him everything he knows.”
It all started when Soulja Boy questioned why Meek Mill had a bigger comeback than he did in 2018. When host DJ Envy noted that Meek had just been released from prison, Soulja replied, “I was locked up too!” When Charlamagne offered the beef with Drake as a possible reason, Soulja got even more animated, pointing out that Drake lost a battle with Pusha T just months before. “[He’s] the biggest rapper in the world,” Charlamagne protested. After walking away from the table, Soulja replied, “Stop playing like I ain’t teach Drake everything he knows.”
https://twitter.com/HypeHubMusic/status/1085532266196017153
When his claim was met with incredulous responses by the hosts, Soulja (incorrectly) attributed the success of Drake’s “first” song, “Miss Me,” to his own “What’s Hannenin'” flow. The introductory bars on “Miss Me” actually do reference Soulja’s flow: “Tell me what’s really goin’ on / Drizzy back up in this thing, I’m ready, what’s hannenin’?” It’s the same pattern Soulja used on his own track’s first verse, right down to the elongated “e” in “tell me.”
However, Soulja seems to have missed some rather big portions of Drake’s breakout year: “Miss Me” was actually the third single from Drake’s debut album, Thank Me Later, following year in which he’d released or featured on nearly a dozen other hits, beginning with his So Far Gone single “Best I Ever Had,” and including Young Money’s compilation single “Bedrock,” Timbaland’s “Say Something,” Trey Songz’ “Invented Sex,” and his own Thank Me Later singles “Over” and “Find Your Love.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Soulja also took shots at Drake rival Kanye West, shooting down Kanye’s self-comparisons to Howard Hughes, Steve Jobs, and Walt Disney. “Why you ain’t come out with sh*t then?” he questioned. “I came out with a whole video game console, bruh. I’m the first rapper to do that in history, bruh. You ain’t Walt Disney. You ain’t none of that, bruh.”
He also accused Kanye of “kissin’ them folks’ ass” to get on at Nike and Adidas, only to come out with “two pair of goofy ass tennis shoes. That ain’t enough, bruh.” He also told Kanye that the tweets about Drake and Trump “look lame,” saying: “You up here supporting Trump and sh*t, bruh. You supporting Trump, bruh? What the f*ck wrong with you?”
And while the legality, profitability and quality of his video game console remains in question, like with the Drake line, he does have some solid points wrapped up in all the hot air he’s blowing — just like Kanye West. The question of which of them really got from the other may never be resolved, but one thing is for sure: They’re way more alike than different.
