According to New Skepta Interview, Drake Really Has Signed to Boy Better Know

Word on road has it that Drake has officially signed to Skepta’s independent Boy Better Know imprint. In a new interview with Time Out London, the grime emcee spoke on his experiences and relationships with Drake and Pharrell, his fiercely independent streak, and the events leading up to the release of Konnichiwa—his first album in half a decade and a veritable victory lap for the genre he has helped pioneer and champion worldwide. Skepta—or Junior as he’s known to his friends and family—gives the magazine a first listen to the album in the driveway of BBK’s makeshift headquarters; after all, the Londoner still works, records, and stores BBK merchandise in a property formerly owned and occupied by his family in Winchmore Hill, in the North of London.

The artist’s anti-establishment attitudes come through in some of the interview’s choice quotables on the radio, the Brit awards, and his attitudes toward Internet rumors—he puts a kibosh on rumblings that he and Drake are working toward a Top Boy reboot, among other things.

Click here to read the full interview and read on below for some choice quotes from Meridian’s finest.

On his relationship with Drake:
In an announcement that nigh-on melted the internet last February, Drake said that he’d ‘signed’ to Boy Better Know. Which, despite the obvious potential contractual difficulties this presents with Drake already being signed to Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment, Skepta claims is actually true. ‘We’re putting together an official worldwide BBK label,’ he reveals, ‘but we haven’t talked about how it’ll work yet. It’ll be separate to his existing contracts. Trust me, I am not gonna sue Lil Wayne.’

On his relationship with mainstream radio:
‘1Xtra took the power away from us,’ says Skepta. ‘Our pirate shows used to influence what records grime fans would buy. But suddenly it was in [the BBC’s] hands and they went: “Bang! We’ve got you now! Make pop or we won’t play you!” ’ By the time of his second album, he says, he was waking up, thinking: ‘This is bullshit, man. I’m not even enjoying this.’
‘When I was a kid, I was a huge music fan, but the music I was listening to never came from Radio One. I honestly thought they just played repeats of TV programmes on the radio. I thought I could tune in if I’d missed “Eastenders” and they’d be playing it on there. The BBC? That’s like the Queen’s music channel, bro!’

On the rumors that he and Drake are bringing back Top Boy:
‘No! Despite all the articles online, I am not working on bringing back “Top Boy”! They – Ashley Walters and Drake – are working on bringing it back. I’ve proper learned about the internet now. People say something and then everyone just believes it. I just laugh at it now.’