Are Kanye & Drake Working On A Joint Album?

There have long been rumors — dreams — of a Drake and Kanye collaboration, rumors that weren't entirely unfounded in reality. In a recent radio appearance on Power 105.1, Kanye revealed that he and Drake had discussed a joint album called Wolves. They'd sent beats to each other and everything, Kanye says, but the album hasn't moved beyond that stage. It did result in Kanye's single "Wolves," which West says was inspired by the discussions with Drake. Both rappers might also appear on Rihanna's new album. Here's what Kanye had to say:

“I’m just going to go along and say because maybe this will promote it happening but the ‘Wolves’ song came from a conversation that me and Drake had, where we were going to do an album together and the album is called Wolves. I asked him, we talked about it and he said yeah we was gonna do it. And actually he was sending beats back and forth and I got this one record with Young Thug that I’m gonna put on Rihanna’s album. I know I’m giving a lot of information.”

While this quote suggests that Kanye is hoping to make this joint album happen, it seems that the rappers are currently engaged in (mostly) friendly competition, not collaboration. Kanye promised that his new album is 80% done, and that he's planning on doing a surprise release. Of course, it does seem a little weird to keep hinting about a surprise album, and it probably won't be all that surprising once it eventually comes out. Drake, on the other hand, was able to release his mixtape If You're Reading This It's Too Late as a total surprise, and, while it hasn't received rave reviews, it's certainly managed to whet the palates of Drake's fans.

A telling part of the interview came when Kanye discussed a Drake diss that could have made him angry, but instead encouraged him to get cracking on his new album:

“I went to this Drake concert in Germany. I flew to the concert to go see it, and he got this one line where he says something about people falling in love with famous girls and they don’t be working as much. So he rapped it, and he knew I was in the concert and he like looked down and stuff and he was right. I gotta get on my job. That’s why I got on trending of ‘Blessings’—’Hello I’m back.'”

While there seems to be a little tension, it's clear that Kanye respects Drake enough to listen to his criticism. This past summer, Kanye also acknowledged that Drake had surpassed him as the most popular rapper.

The Verdict

While it seems unlikely that Kanye and Drake will collaborate soon, it seems like a definite possibility in the near future, perhaps when both rappers have less to prove. They are both releasing albums of their own soon, and they both seem pretty devoted to dominating the charts separately before they dominate together. We can only dream.