DJ Black Coffee Discusses Drake's Use of Global Genres: 'He's Investing in the Culture'

It’s no secret that a lot of Drake’s recent work has been influenced by musical genres around the world. From U.K. grime and dancehall to Atlanta trap and Afro house, the Toronto rapper has introduced many of his fans to new styles and flavors. Nowhere was this more apparent than in Drake’s recently released More Life project.

The fact that Drizzy has shelved the “album” title in favor of “playlist” says a lot about his intention behind the release. The “playlist” label suggests fans should not consider this a solo endeavor, but rather a collaboration between artists from across the globe. The 22-track project truly serves as a catalog of many of Drake’s musical influences.

Though he’s definitely benefited from channeling a wide range of genres, some critics have accused Drake of being a “culture vulture” who appropriates global styles and exploits other artists to give his work legitimacy. But according to South African DJ Black Coffee, Drake’s love for non-mainstream music is a win-win situation.

The DJ/producer received a credit on More Life’s “Get It Together” track with Jorga Smith. The song uses the beat of Black Coffee’s 2008 song “Superman,” which is well-known deep house cut. Black Coffee recently spoke to Pigeons & Planes about his involvement in the playlist and shared his thoughts on Drake’s approach.

“For me, that was such a beautiful thing, to get that kind of love from Drake […] I have been saying over and over that the music that we do is so beautiful; I wish the world could be exposed to it,” Black Coffee said. “[…] And that’s what it did when Drake played it.”

The DJ then touched on how the collaboration went down. He explained Drake’s team had contacted him to use the “Superman” track on More Life and requested the files. Black Coffee said he was never in the studio with Drake and has actually never met him or the other track’s star, Jorga.

“The real reason, besides that fact that we love music, the real reason we’re involved in music is to unite people,” he explained. “[Drake] is the biggest artist right now. That’s exactly what’ he’s doing. He’s uniting all of us. […] What’s smart about it as well is he gets to have presence in all these places where he’s shining the light. His U.K. fanbase is much stronger […] It’s an investment, I see it like that. He’s really investing in the culture and he’s really going to be more of a worldwide thing.”

You can check out Black Coffee’s sit-down in full above.