At the Mexican place, we sit at a table on the outdoor patio, listening to a man with an acoustic guitar really beat up some easy-listening tunes. It’s not Drake’s first time here. In fact our waitress acts a bit chilly at first, taking Drake’s order for a strawberry margarita, and when she leaves, he says, “Oh man, I kinda dated her cousin, and I think she might be mad at me.” Other tables steal the occasional glance, and someone from the staff comes by and says, “I don’t want to interrupt, man, but you are badass!”
“Thank you,” says Drake politely, and when the guy disappears back to the kitchen, he says, “I hope he means that the good way.”
Then, drink in hand, he addresses his feud with Chris Brown. “I hear he has everything he could want now,” Drake says, alluding to the fact that Brown and Rihanna were, for the moment, back together. “I don’t want my name to be synonymous with that guy’s name. I really don’t. I wish we could sit down, just like you and me are right now, and talk it out man-to-man. But that’s not going to happen. I’m not confrontational, but if someone challenges, I’m not going to back down.”
Still, none of it sits too well with Drake. “It’s embarrassing, the amount of media coverage,” he says. “Two rappers fighting over the woman. He’s not even a rapper, but still, it’s the last way you want your name out there. It distracts from the music. But he’s made me the enemy, and that’s the way it’s gonna stay, I guess.”