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Drake sat down with the Village Voice recently where he talked about his biracial background, the difference between how race is perceived in Canada and the U.S., and the types of girls he likes.
[You have] a black dad and a white, Jewish mom. Do those issues of race and identity play out differently in Canada compared to the US?
Well, Canada’s like a cultural melting pot, especially Toronto. America, I come here sometimes and I witness, like, real segregation. Like when you go to LA and it’s like, “This area’s Mexican, and this area’s white.” That’s crazy to me because in Toronto we have cultural areas—”OK, this is Little India, this is Chinatown, this is where there the Greek people are”—but it’s not segregated. It’s not like you can’t go there and participate in the culture. So it’s a bit different. I think Canada’s very accepting. But at the same time I get a lot of love everywhere in the world for just being diverse, instead of just being straight out [one thing]. I’m all mixed up and people embrace that.
When you identify yourself this way do you ever get questioned on it, like, “Why do you call yourself ‘mixed’?” or “What’s wrong with just being black?”
I mean, I’m so light that people are like “you’re white.” That’s what I get more than anything, people saying “you’re white, you’re not black.” But I mean those are whatever, those are just silly jokes. That’s like “the light-skinned complex.” That’s a very American thing as well, light skin and dark skin, like I don’t even notice that. Girls will be like “oh I’ve seen you talk to dark-skinned girls, that’s so good.” And I’m like “why? I talk to any girl!” I talk to anybody, you know?
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