Rod Wave Reveals Why He Took Himself Off Drake’s ‘Lemon Pepper Freestyle’

Rod Wave almost ended up on Drake’s “Lemon Pepper Freestyle.”

During an interview with Apple Music’s “The Plug Radio,” the “Rags2Riches” rapper revealed that he submitted a verse for the Rick Ross-assisted song, but ended up killing it.

“I was supposed to be on [‘Lemon Pepper Freestyle’],” he said, “but I didn’t like how my verse came out. So I kind of scratched it.”

He admits that the opportunity proved daunting, so he took himself off the song. “I didn’t like how my voice came out and you know with a Drake feature, you don’t want to…” he said. “It’s like my first thing, it’s a big deal, have to come with it…I kind of had got cold feet, so kind of shook me up a little bit. So I was like don’t worry about it.”

When asked if he’s featured on Drake’s upcoming album Certified Lover Boy, he responded, “No, no, no….I was supposed to be on the ‘Lemon Pepper’ song.”

He also shared that he hit up Drake directly after struggling to clear his song “OMDB,” which samples Drake’s “Over My Dead Body.” “I had to text Drake and ask him,” he said. “It be really blowing me. It don’t feel real. He like, ‘Yeah bro, I got you.’”

Elsewhere in the interview, he revealed that he wants to do an EP with Ed Sheeran. “Man, I’m trying to do a whole EP with Ed Sheeran. I’m going to talk it into existence,” said Rod, while also sharing his desire to work with Adele. “I’d love to f**k with Ed Sheeran, dude, or Adele. All of them.”

Last month, Rod released his sophomore album SoulFly, which is expected to debut at No. 1 on next week’s charts.