Akon Reveals He Passed Up On Signing Drake Because He “Sounded like Eminem”
In an interview with VladTv, Akon revealed that he passed on signing Drake because he claimed that his demo tape sounded like another popular rapper.
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The 47-year-old explained that he got the opportunity to bring Drizzy on his label back in 2005, but didn’t want to move forward because “Drake sounded more like Eminem.”
“Kardinal Offishall brought him [Drake] to me in 2005, I think it was, or 2004,” Akon recalled. “It was right before [Drake’s song] ‘Best I Ever Had’ blew up, because, at the time, it was more mixtape-ish. At the time, believe it or not, Drake sounded more like Eminem. With that demo I heard, it was sounding more like Em.”
He went on to say,
“You can see the difference between that demo, and ‘Best I Ever Had’. It was completely different.”
Akon, best known for his catalog of hits like “Lonely” and “I Wanna Love You,” had his KonLive label via Interscope. Lady Gaga was signed for his team but the two have since parted ways. Variety notes that Akon’s Konvict Muzik imprint, which was founded in 2004, included T-Pain, rapper Kardinal Offishall, singer Kat Deluna, and many others.
Of course social media had a field day with Akon after his interview made its rounds online. One Twitter user said, “@Akon! @Drake doesn’t sound like @Eminem, 2 different styles of rap music.” Another added, “That’s Cap lol drake had bars and it didn’t sound like no Eminem I feel like Akon hurting for the dough lol collabing with 69?”
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