Ghostface Killah isn’t too bothered by the “culture vulture” label that pops up in hip-hop — and he thinks Drake shouldn’t be either.
In a recent interview with TMZ Hip-Hop, the Wu-Tang Clan legend was asked about Drake’s sit-down with Bobbi Althoff, where Drizzy addressed being called a “culture vulture.”
“Oh. Hey, listen, I’ve been called worse than that,” Ghostface said. “You need to chill out.”
Drake circled back to the “culture vulture” conversation while reflecting on his 2023 fallout with Bobbi Althoff. Their drama began after she dropped her viral Drake interview on her now-defunct Not Really Good Podcast.
According to Drizzy, he distanced himself from Althoff after she once blamed him for personal issues she was facing. He insisted he wasn’t “part of the problem” but admitted he can be easily triggered when people question his role or intentions.
“I experience a lot of guilt-tripping in my life where people are like, ‘No, this is your fault,’ essentially,” he said on the debut of Althoff’s Not This Again podcast. “And my intentions are pure. My intentions are pure. It’s the same way even in music. People will be like, ‘You’re a culture vulture.’”
He added, “They’ll put a negative spin on it and try and tell me that it’s a self-serving thing or whatever, and I think I get really sensitive about that.”
Drake has been battling “culture vulture” accusations for years, with critics saying he profits from cultures he doesn’t fully represent. Back in 2019, he addressed the label on Tiffany Calver’s BBC Radio 1Xtra Rap Show:
“‘Oh that’s some culture vulture…,’ I don’t know what that means,” he said. “I’ll never understand how supporting somebody’s song or giving someone a song isn’t admirable. I had to get that off my chest.”
The criticism intensified in 2024 when Kendrick Lamar dropped his fiery diss tracks “Euphoria” and “Not Like Us.” On Euphoria, K. Dot attacked Drake’s authenticity: “You not a rap artist, you a scam artist with the hopes of bеing accepted.”
Then on Not Like Us, Kendrick doubled down, branding him a “colonizer” and accusing him of leaning on other rappers for credibility:
“You called Future when you didn’t see the club / Lil Baby helped you get your lingo up / 21 [Savage] gave you false street cred / Thug made you feel like you a slime in your head / Quavo said you can be from Northside / 2 Chainz say you good, but he lied.”
