Common has shed light on how a feud with Drake was resolved, thanks to Drake’s father, Dennis Graham.
Appearing on Drink Champs with Pete Rock, Common spoke about how their rift got smoothed over. He shared that he encountered Drake face-to-face at the 2012 Grammy Awards. ‘It was at a point where I was like, ‘Wassup?’ And we had little words. And then his father was there and was like, ‘Y’all need to squash this.’ And I was like, ‘Man, this an elder talking to me. This this man’s father. Let me chill out.’ And then Drake just was like, ‘I ain’t on this.’ So we just squashed it.’
Common explained that their beef ignited when Drake started seeing his ex, Serena Williams, and took ‘subliminal’ shots at him on tracks. ‘I felt like Drake was sending me a couple of shots, subliminals. I don’t know what motivated him to send me some shots but I think what for sure had me, if I’m just being real, like you know, we mess with one of the same girls. You know wars happen over women. That’s just what it is.’
He elaborated, ‘I ain’t going to get at you if you with somebody I was with. But if you start throwing me a couple little, you know, you trying to throw some jabs then I’m like, ‘Come on, man, okay.’
Common had previously shed light on their reconciliation in a 2012 interview with Cabbie Richards. ‘We had a talk, we had a conversation. It was a face-to-face, man-to-man, a positive thing. It was a good conversation,’ he remarked, adding that the dialogue led him to respect Drake even more. ‘I’ve learned to respect him even more. I already thought he was a talented guy, but just from the conversation we had, I hold even more respect for him.’
He continued, ‘We saw each other and the conversation was initiated. It was just a respectful conversation that needed to be had, so he knew that I’m not at him trying to destroy him as a human being. It was a Hip Hop battle to me. I had to put all of those things into Hip Hop… I gave him a pound, gave him a boom and it was all love.’
Thanks to Dennis Graham’s intervention, Common and Drake managed to end their feud and move forward with mutual respect.
