The reason why Jay-Z only had 2 lines on Drake’s ‘Pop Style’
And why that version of the song was dropped from VIEWS
Drake’s new album VIEWS is out, but with one big omission.
The song Pop Style, initially released as a single in the months leading up to the albums release, originally featured Kanye West and Jay-Z.
The pair were billed on the single’s cover as ‘The Throne’, a reference to their 2011 collaboration album Watch the Throne.
But when Drake’s album actually came out on Friday the duo were strangely absent. Drake instead added a new verse and re-recorded Jay-Z’s line with his own vocals.
Now the reason behind the change has come out, and it’s still a bit weird.
In an interview with Beats 1’s Zane Lowe, Drizzy said that he originally just wanted Kanye on the track.
“Really I was just trying to get ‘Ye on it at first, and ‘Ye just sent it to me like that, like “yo, Jay kinda just did my first lines for me.”
“And he was all excited like it, like yo just put The Throne on it, it’d be a crazy moment.”
“[The version with Jay-Z] just landed in my lap. I just dealt with it accordingly. You know, it didn’t exactly play out how I would have wanted it to, you know, as business goes.”
Strangely enough the original version of Pop Style wasn’t even available on Jay-Z’s streaming music service, Tidal. It was an Apple Music exclusive.
Early last year Billboard reported that Drake was originally set to be part of the Tidal launch line-up, but pulled out “as late as two days before”. He later helped launch Apple Music at WWDC 2015 before releasing multiple songs and albums on the service exclusively.
The interview also hints at a possible Drake collaboration with Kanye West. Fingers crossed.
But at the end of the day, the interview really highlights how weird streaming music is, especially when it comes to collaborations and exclusives.
The full 1+ hour interview with Drake is below, along with other Apple-cut highlights.
