Drake on His ‘Nerve-Racking’ New Sotheby’s Collaboration

On Thursday night in Manhattan, Drake sat in a green room at Sotheby’s Upper East Side showroom, leafing through a catalogue. He was here to see “I Like It Like This,” a collection of works by eminent black contemporary artists — Basquiat, Glenn Ligon, Theaster Gates, Kara Walker, and David Hammons among them — curated by the auction house for its S|2 gallery and on view through June 12. There are over 50
pieces included in the show, and the superstar was elated to finally see them in person after spending weeks working on his pro-bono contribution: a tracklist of 21 songs paired with selected sculptures and paintings throughout the space. (Visitors can hear the songs at listening stations adjacent to the works.) Dressed casually in a light blue denim jacket and Timberland boots, he didn't exactly look like one of the auction house's usual denizens, but that’s sort of the point — this is all new to him, and to Sotheby’s.
This burgeoning relationship got off to a slightly rocky start when, during the press preview for “I Like It Like This,” organizers paired his song choices with the wrong art, using, for example, Robert Johnson’s “32-20 Blues” instead of Drake's own “Wu-Tang Forever” as the pairing for Glenn Ligon’s Figure #29.  When I asked him about the blunder during last night’s crowded party and reception, he shrugged it off, but it’s clear that he takes his Sotheby's work seriously — so seriously that he and his team cut me off when I broached any non-art-related questions during our interview. So you'll have to wait for more info about Views From the 6, but here's what he had to say about his latest project.
How did this collaboration come together?
My management team, who are also my best friends, hit me with the opportunity. Whenever I’m traveling abroad, one of my managers is really into art, so we talk art a lot and we go to Sotheby’s or Peter Harrington or wherever and try and see what we can when we’re traveling. My manager told me that there a was an opportunity for me to be able to curate the music to go with some extremely incredible pieces of work. From there we took it on, and I’m just blown away to see these pieces in person. I’ve been staring at them, obviously on paper, for a month. It’s so incredible to see it in person and be able to put the headphones on and realize, like, you know, okay, yeah, this really works.
What kind of interest did you have in visual art before this?
I’m always super curious how people choose to relieve themselves of the thoughts that are in their head. For me, it’s words. That’s my craft. When I piece the right words together, it’s a very euphoric feeling, and I’m sure for these artists, when they get the right image on canvas, it must be the same thing. It’s such a euphoric feeling; so I’ve always been interested. I’ve always liked to see how people express themselves from start to finish, especially when it’s things I can’t do. Like, I’m not good at drawing, or doing anything, for that matter, with a brush or a pen, so I’m very intrigued to see that side of it. And one of my biggest things in life is creating a home for myself. So I’m always looking for things, pieces to collect and put inside of this dream home that I have in my head, which will be done one day.