With Drake and Kanye West set to come together in Los Angeles for the Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert on Thursday, Billboard caught up with J. Prince to discuss his role in ending the rappers’ longstanding beef.
While discussing how Drizzy and Ye came together in an effort to advocate the clemency of Larry Hoover, J. Prince credited the co-founder of Chicago’s Gangster Disciples with helping them set aside their differences.
“We have to start with the name Larry Hoover. He planted the seed,” J. Prince said in the video above. “He wanted to see Kanye and Drake come together in the name of peace. His son Larry Jr. was hanging out with Kanye a lot, and of course, Drake is my son, but [Hoover] planted the seed, and I watered it.”
The Rap-A-Lot CEO described how he convinced both parties to squash their feud.
“I painted the bigger picture to Drake,” he explained. “I let him know that this is a moment and movement that can save lives. I believe by Drake and Kanye being an example, as two of hip-hop’s top artists, that lives would be saved.”
He continued, “I believe this is going to be imitated and it’s important to be an example to those that look up to you and that meant something to Drake—just the life-saving event wrapped around putting the spotlight on injustice, prison reform, and my brother Larry Hoover. Everything is icing on the cake after that, because he never envisioned things like that. So I had to tap into a power greater than the anger or whatever these guys had for one another.”
In November, both rappers took to Instagram to announce their reconciliation, as West posted a picture of himself and Drake with J. Prince. A video was also shared showing Dave Chappelle speaking inside the Certified Lover Boy artist’s Toronto mansion about the pair putting their differences aside.
“Make some noise for Kanye and Drake and make some noise for our reconciliation,” Chappelle can be heard saying in a clip Ye posted to his IG Stories.
Watch J. Prince’s recent appearance on BigBoyTV up top, where he expands on how he urged Drake and Kanye to end their feud.
