André 3000 has responded to the “unfortunate” leak of his Kanye West collaboration, “Life of the Party,” the previously unreleased Donda outtake that seems to take shots at Drake.
Drake played “Life of the Party,” which had originally been previewed at one of Kanye’s Donda events but ultimately didn’t make the final cut of the album, this weekend in a guest DJ mix on SiriusXM.
In a statement obtained by Billboard, André 3000 explained that when he contributed his verse to “Life of the Party,” his intent was to support Donda’s concept in tribute to his own late mother, and that he was not a part of the diss that ended up on the song.
“A few weeks ago Kanye reached out about me being a part of the Donda album,” said the Outkast rapper, who was in Cleveland filming a Noah Baumbach film when they made contact. “I was inspired by his idea to make a musical tribute to his mom. It felt appropriate to me to support the Donda concept by referencing my own mother, who passed away in 2013. We both share that loss. I thought it was a beautiful choice to make a clean album but, unfortunately, I didn’t know that was the plan before I wrote and recorded my verse. It was clear to me that an edited ‘clean’ format of the verse would not work without having the raw, original also available. So, sadly, I had to be omitted from the original album release.”
He continued, “The track I received and wrote to didn’t have the diss verse on it and we were hoping to make a more focused offering for the Donda album but I guess things happen like they are supposed to. It’s unfortunate that it was released in this way and two artists that I love are going back and forth.”
“I wanted to be on Certified Lover Boy too,” he pointed out. “I just want to work with people that inspire me. Hopefully I can work with Kendrick on his album. I’d love to work with Lil’ Baby, Tyler and Jay-Z. I respect them all.”
On “Life of the Party,” Kanye says, “I put Virgil and Drake on the same text and it wasn’t about the matching Arc’teryx or Kid Cudi dress / Just told these grown men stop it with the funny shit,” referencing designer Virgil Abloh and the pre-pandemic fashion moment when Drake and Abloh posed together wearing the same camouflage Arc’teryx jackets. “Thought we was the new Abu Dhabi / Told Drake don’t play with me on GD and he sent that message to everybody / So if I hit you with a WYD, you better hit me with, ‘Yessir, I’m writing everything you need.’”
Certified Lover Boy, Drake’s just-released album, includes a track that seemingly targets Kanye. “7am on Bridle Path” has him rapping, “Get that address to your driver, make it your destination / instead of just a post out of desperation,” presumably referencing the incident when West shared Drake’s Toronto address on social media.
The same day Drake brought “Life of the Party” to SiriusXM, he left a comment about “waste removal” on Instagram.
