Drake may have jumped on the Kentucky bandwagon less than 10 years ago, but he is determined to convince everyone that there is no bigger Wildcats fan in the world than him right now.
In an appearance on John Calipari’s podcast this week, Drake spoke about the first time he visited the Kentucky campus in 2009. Although he was on the verge of becoming one of the most recognizable faces in the entertainment industry, the rapper claims his trip to Lexington was one of the most inspirational experiences of his life.
“When I came to Lexington and met you, I didn’t want to leave. I would probably have traded my life at that moment to play Kentucky basketball and be under you and it felt like a mentor,” Drake explained, as transcribed by Kentucky Sports Radio. “It felt like a father figure. It felt like this incredible feeling. And at 26 years old, it made me go and reconnect with the teacher that I loved the most from grades nine through eleven before I decided to stop going to high school, and I reconnected with her and — we still talk every day — but at that point in time, we would talk a lot and I asked her if she would help me graduate high school. And I felt like I was doing it just in honor — and this is not just to say this because I’m on this show — to honor what I had seen in Lexington and feeling like I was part of something.”
Talk about some heavy stuff. Knowing exactly what he was doing, Calipari asked Drake where he would play college basketball if he was a top high school recruit. We’ll let you guess how Drake responded.
“To answer your question, there’s no doubt in my mind. I wouldn’t have to do some big spectacle of choices with different caps on the table,” he said. “I would go straight to Kentucky because I’d have to play under you. That would be one of the greatest things to ever happen in my life.”
Drake has become an important recruiting asset for Calipari. If you think his opinion and connection with the program doesn’t matter, you have no idea how modern day college athletics works. Remember who introduced Calipari at Big Blue Madness a while back? That was no coincidence.
