Drake: “The David Guetta Stuff Just Doesn’t Work”

R&B and hip-hop have made a 90-degree turn towards Eurotrash electronica ever since “I Gotta Feeling,” and not everybody’s happy about it. The cloyingly saturated untz-untz-untz-untz beats provided by producers like David Guetta may guarantee Billboard entry, but for Drake, that comes at a price.

In a recent interview with NME, he said, “For me, the David Guetta stuff just doesn’t work. I don’t really wanna go there. There’s other artists, that’s their sound. They feel in order to thrive internationally that they gotta do straightforward, four to the floor, David Guetta, Pitbull music.”

But the Euro club shit ain’t garbage — it’s just more nuanced than American charts would have you believe. Drake has an open crush on British bass music DJs like James Blake and Jamie xx, and the latter produced the title track from Take Care.

“For me, I’d rather go to somebody like Jamie xx and tell him, ‘Look, I really wanna turn the club upside down, but I wanna do it with integrity, with soul,” says Drake.

No surprise that Guetta’s wave of neon EDM doesn’t tickle Drake’s fancy, but his remarks immediately recall Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. Half of Nicki Minaj’s sophomore album was produced by the likes of RedOne and Dr. Luke — “straightforward, four to the floor, David Guetta, Pitbull music,” to say the least.