In July 2023, Drake linked up with social media personality Bobbi Althoff for an interview as part of her then-nascent series, The Really Good Podcast. The format was a bit unconventional for a podcast. The two of them filmed it in a bed, meant to make it come off as more laid-back than the usual venue for a show like that. The episode went viral, amassing hundreds of millions of views across all clips posted and about ten million views on YouTube alone. About a month after the episode’s initial release, the two unfollowed each other. Althoff then removed the episode from her YouTube channel. It seemed as if there was a bit of a rift. Althoff also got divorced around the same time, leading to the circulation of unsavory and unsubstantiated rumors.
Two years later, Drake and Bobbi Althoff have patched up whatever issues they had at the time. The Toronto rapper/singer joined Althoff for the first episode of Not This Again, the relaunch of (and spiritual successor to) her podcast. Across their 80-minute conversation, which is also the first proper interview he’s given since the last time he sat down with her, the two of them get into a variety of topics. As usual, Drake provides some interesting answers. Here are five takeaways from their discussion.
Drake Plans To Perform In The US Again, Is Not Scared Of L.A.
At a point, Bobbi Althoff gets a bit more forthright in her questioning. She asks Drake if he was scared away from Los Angeles after his battle with Kendrick Lamar. “Am I scared away?” he asked in response after she doubled down. When she questioned why he didn’t tour America in 2024, he pointed out that he had recently finished a tour when everything between him and Lamar started. “I gotta do another one,” he added. Drake is currently on the road in Europe, which is why this interview was filmed in Switzerland, but he maintained that he’ll be back in the US (and L.A.) in the future. He also extended an invitation to Althoff, which she accepted. As fans know, Iceman is on the way, and with a new Drake album typically comes a new tour, so his Californian fans will probably get to see him again soon enough.
Drake Is Not A Fan Of “Entitled” Hip-Hop Journalists
Drake’s beef with hip-hop journalism goes years. It has also probably deepened as well in the last year and a half as well. Especially with the general consensus coming out of his battle with Kendrick Lamar being that he was not victorious. Some fans questioned why Bobbi Althoff was the person he chose for his first formal interview in two years. Althoff has interviewed other rappers. However, she is not someone that fans would consider part of the hip-hop media landscape. He directly addressed the backlash from his first interview with Althoff and blasted those in hip-hop media. “What we did, it changed a lot of things for a lot of people,” Drake started.
“It was me essentially just recognizing somebody that I never met in my life, that I fully believed in, that I thought was really interesting, and that I wanted to have an interesting conversation with," he continued. “It pissed off, like, so many, all these f**king losers, these, like, storied journalists, like, this guy and that guy who feel so entitled to this interview, and, ‘Drake never does anything for this type of media.’ And it just made people so angry, that two people who maybe have nothing to talk about, or everything to talk about, but just based on random energy, could come together.” Drake did not name any names, but in 2024, he fell out with Elliott Wilson and, just a few days ago, he dissed Rob Markman. It is not unreasonable to assume that he had a specific person in mind with these comments.
Read More: “What Did I Miss?”: Drake’s "Iceman" Rollout, Wireless Festival & The Fight To Reclaim The Narrative
Drake Does Not Agree With “Culture Vulture” Label
Fans and peers alike have hit Drake with “culture vulture” for a decade, dating back to when Earl Sweatshirt called him a vulture to young rappers in 2015. Drake infamously first started experimenting with more dancehall-inspired sounds on Views in 2016, which added more fuel to the fire. The accusations became even more pronounced in 2019, when UK rapper Wiley used the term to describe him after he started collaborating with other British MCs. And of course, he once again came under fire for alleged “colonization” as a result of “Not Like Us.” Drake has long denied the accusations, responding to Wiley’s statement by calling it “confused hater s**t. He spoke to the criticisms once again in this new interview.
"I experience a lot of guilt tripping in my life where people are like, 'No this is your fault,' essentially... My intentions are pure. It's the same way even in music. People will be like, 'You're a culture vulture,'” he said. “People will describe the collaborative efforts that I have put forth and the artists that I've picked up or shined a light on as me taking. They'll put a negative spin on it and try and tell me it's a self-serving thing and I think I get real sensitive about that.”
WWE Star Rhea Ripley Is His Muse, Apparently
In a different segment from the podcast, Drake and Bobbi Althoff attempted to pull up Tyga’s Instagram account while Drake cracked some jokes about his former Young Money labelmate. Both of them had internet issues. They were filming in Switzerland and in what appeared to be a location far away from a city. During that interaction, Drake admitted that his “for you” page is full of posts about WWE star Rhea Ripley. Ripley has gone viral several times over in recent years for her goth look and imposing physique, to the point where people who don’t watch professional wrestling can recognize her, a major test for how much mainstream appeal a wrestler may have. When Althoff said she was unfamiliar with Ripley, Drake explained she was a wrestler. "She’s like my muse, but I’m the opposite of probably everything that she likes," he told Althoff.
Drake is a bit of a professional wrestling fan, going to WWE’s Elimination Chamber event, which took place in Toronto in March. He was not intentionally shown on camera, but eagle-eyed viewers noticed he and Lil Yachty sitting ringside, behind the commentary team. Logan Paul also acknowledged him during the show’s main event, writing “OVO” on his pod. After all that, it is not surprising that, like many WWE fans, Drake has also caught the Rhea Ripley bug. Unfortunately for Drake and thousands of other dreamers, Ripley married fellow wrestler Buddy Matthews in 2024. Shortly after, Drake claimed that his dream woman is a “goth baddie with O cups,” adding that they also have to be funny, jokingly suggesting that his next album could take a sonic left turn before briefly breaking into a parody of emo music.
He Did Not Get His Abs Done
Drake combated the speculation that he got ab surgery and a BBL during the interview, completely denying the allegations. The theories arose again this past June, after a gym selfie of his went viral. The selfie caused some fans to think he was showing off etched-in abs. “I think it was just like I came from the gym. I was sweaty in that pic,” he said. “Maybe I like heightened the saturation or something on it. I hit it too hard. They don’t look like that. You saw them.” He also joked about the BBL rumors a bit. “I don't know if my wagon looked crazy when I walked in here, but did it?” he asked Althoff.
Outside of Lamar’s insinuation that Drake has fake abs and Metro Boomin creating the viral “BBL Drizzy” beat, another artist who made some jokes about Drake’s alleged cosmetic surgery in 2024 was former friend Rick Ross. Drake took a dig at Ross during the interview as well, suggesting that his chains were fake. “You’ve never seen someone ice Rosé? Well, talk to every jeweler in Miami that has fake diamonds,” he said at one point, a remark that went over Althoff’s head. Drake seems to have taken the chatter in stride, but clearly, there’s no love lost between himself and those who’ve spent the last year dissing him.
