Drake squashed Kanye West beef because he saw “bigger picture” of saving lives
The world's biggest rap stars are uniting for the Free Larry Hoover benefit concert today
Drake agreed to put an end to years of feuding with Kanye West because he saw the “bigger picture” of saving lives for the pair’s benefit concert today (December 9), J. Prince has revealed.
The Rap-A-Lot Records CEO has shed more light on the reconciliation that he organised for the pair, who have exchanged barbs and diss tracks over the years, at his Toronto estate recently. The meeting was held ahead of the Free Larry Hoover benefit show, which kicks off at 11pm ET tonight (4am GMT tomorrow, December 10) and will stream for free on Amazon Prime Video and Twitch.
“I painted the bigger picture to Drake,” Prince told Billboard in a new interview. “I let him know that this is a moment and movement that can save lives. I believe by Drake and Kanye being an example, as two of hip-hop’s top artists, that lives would be saved.
“I believe this is going to be imitated and it’s important to be an example to those that look up to you and that meant something to Drake — just the life-saving event wrapped around putting the spotlight on injustice, prison reform, and my brother Larry Hoover. Everything is icing on the cake after that, because he never envisioned things like that. So I had to tap into a power greater than the anger or whatever these guys had for one another.”
The Free Larry Hoover concert held at the LA Coliseum will raise awareness and advocate for the freedom of Hoover, a former gang leader who is currently serving six life sentences for charges relating to gang activity. Hoover’s son, Larry Hoover Jr., is heard in a voice note on Ye’s new album ‘DONDA’ discussing the cracks in the US criminal justice system.
Ye previously said that he was inviting Drake to reconcile their differences purely for the benefit effort. “I’m asking Drake on 7 December to join me on stage as a special guest to share the two biggest albums of the year, live in Los Angeles, with the ultimate purpose to free Larry Hoover,” he said in a video alongside J. Prince.
Drake and Ye’s beef stemmed from a number of incidents, most notably when Pusha T, whom Ye has produced extensively for, exposed in 2018 that Drake had a secret son called Adonis (revealed on the diss track ‘Story of Adidon’).
Prince, meanwhile, also spoke about the ambitious stage plans that Ye has for the concert, incuding covering nearly the entire Coliseum with a mount about “50 feet high”.
“I was shocked and surprised last night when I went to the stadium and saw the stage,” Prince said. “It seemed like it was about fifty feet high, and was basically covering the whole field. This is going to be a historical show and an enlightening concert.”
Last week it was reported that tickets for the event were going for around $7,500 (£5,667) [via HipHopDX]. Head here for more information.