Roger Waters dismisses The Weeknd and Drake: “I am far, far, far more important than any of them will ever be, however many billions of streams they’ve got”
“There is stuff going on here that is fundamentally important to all of our lives,” the former Pink Floyd rocker declared in a spicy new interview.
Image: Theo Wargo / Justin Berl / Getty Images
Former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters has offered some of his rather… unfiltered thoughts on just where his music stands against acts like The Weeknd and Drake.
Speaking in an interview with Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail, the artist was upfront about his disapproval at how the Canadian press — including the reporter he was interviewing with — chose not to review his recent shows in Toronto.
Waters’ This Is Not a Drill Tour rolled into Toronto on 8 July, the same day the Weeknd’s After Hours Til Dawn show was set to open in the city, though the latter was ultimately cancelled due to a network outage.
“What’s interesting about you being here with me now is that none of the newspapers in Toronto sent anybody to review my shows,” he said. “What I’d like to know, what I’d like you to ponder on, and maybe ask your readers, is if they have any theories as to why that may be?”
The (very honest) interviewer admitted that he was assigned to cover The Weeknd’s concert at the nearby Rogers Centre and told Waters that his show “wasn’t the biggest in town that night,” to which the man replied, “I have no idea what or who the Weeknd is, because I don’t listen to much music. People have told me he’s a big act. Well, good luck to him. I’ve got nothing against him. Would it not have been possible to review his show one night and my show another night?”
The 78-year-old rocker added that he’s “not trying to make a personal attack”, only that it “seemed odd” that the newspaper couldn’t cover both shows considering they took place on separate nights.
Waters then proceeded to take aim at yet another Canadian hip-hop star, Drake, out of the blue, saying “By the way, with all due respect to The Weeknd or Drake, or any of them, I am far, far, far more important than any of them will ever be, however many billions of streams they’ve got.”
“There is stuff going on here that is fundamentally important to all of our lives,” he declared.
Click here for the full interview.