Los Angeles

Drake Denies Dad's Claim He Made Up Absentee-Father Lyrics to Sell Records

"It's sad when family gets like this but what can we really do... every bar I ever spit was the truth and the truth is hard for some people to accept," Drake said.

Drake’s father claims the rapper has lied about him being an absentee father to sell records, to which his musician son responded, "The truth is hard for some people to accept."

The father, Dennis Graham, made the claim during a recent appearance on Nick Cannon’s "Close Conversations" show on Los Angeles’ Power 106 radio station.

During the interview, Cannon told Graham that his father was not always present while he was growing up.

"I have a very similar situation to where my mother was a single mother and had to do a lot on her own," Cannon said. "There was a large amount of time where my father wasn’t around."

Cannon said that he and his father are "super cool" now, and asked Graham if he could relate. "We hear it in his lyrics sometimes," the host said, referring to Drake.

Graham told Cannon that he had a "deep conversation" with Drake about this.

"I have always been with Drake," Graham said. "I talk to him, if not every day, every other day. And we really got into a deep conversation about that. I said, 'Drake, why are you saying all this stuff about me, man? Like, this is not cool.'"

Graham claims the rapper told him: "Dad, it sells records," and that he responded, "OK, cool. Talk about me."

Graham and Cannon then laugh, and Cannon said he wishes his father was as understanding.

Drake, 32, has previously said in interviews and in his songs, that he grew up in his native Toronto without his father at times.

Contact Us