Drake's connection to Prince is getting renewed attention after Kendrick Lamar compared his own catalog to that of the iconic Purple Rain singer on Future and Metro Boomin's "Like That."
On the early We Don't Trust You highlight, Kendrick Lamar once again made a guest verse a major event by aiming for both Drake and J. Cole. There's also a part of the track where he alluded to Michael Jackson and Prince's feud throughout their careers and favorably compared his catalog to the Minneapolis legend.
"Motherfuck the big three, n***a, it's just big me / N***a, bum, what? I'm really like that," Kendrick raps in the track. "And your best work is a light pack / N***a, Prince outlived Mike Jack' / N***a, bum, 'fore all your dogs gettin' buried / That's a K with tall these nines, he go' see Pet Sematary / N***a, bum."
Kung-Fu Kenny suggests in the verse that he's similar to Prince, who outlived Michael Jackson by almost seven years. It also appears to be a reference to Drake's bar on the J. Cole collaboration "First Person Shooter," in which he rapped, "What the fuck, bro? I'm one away from Michael / N***a, beat it, n***a, beat it, what?" K Dot's verse doesn't appear to be a knock on the legacy of MJ, but Drake's insistence on comparing himself to the late King of Pop.
Funnily enough, Drake's uncle Larry Graham, a vocalist and bassist who also played as part of Sly and the Family Stone and Graham Central Station, worked with Prince on multiple occasions. Graham collaborated with Prince on the 1999 album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, 2001's Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic, and 2001's The Rainbow Children.
Kendrick and Prince, meanwhile, were mutual fans. The influence of Prince's catalog is especially felt on To Pimp A Butterfly, which Prince said he loved in an interview in 2015, just one year before his untimely death. They almost collaborated on the song "Complexion (A Zulu Love," as K Dot explained in 2016, per NME.
"Prince heard the record, loved the record and the concept of the record got us to talking," Kendrick said. "We got to a point where we were just talking in the studio and the more time that passed we realized we weren’t recording anything. We just ran out of time, it’s as simple as that."
