#Kevin Gates: Light-Skinned People Like Drake ‘Have It Rough’

Kevin Gates has entered the debate sparked by Lil Wayne around light-skinned people and agrees with the assessment that folks like Drake have it harder than others.

The Louisiana native spoke to TMZ on Monday (January 29), where he weighed in on Weezy’s recent thoughts.

“I’m not just gonna say light rappers,” he said to the outlet during a visit to New York City. “I’m gonna say light people have it rough, you know? They’re the first ones to get picked. Some people, they never get nothin’ gangsta. They just ugly, you know what I’m saying? So we stay away from them.”

He continued: “But like I said, adversity builds character. So I’ve been battle-tested. I’m certified.”

Check out the interview with the outlet below.

Kevin Gates was referring to comments Lil Wayne made on The Richard Sherman Podcast on January 19.

“I get that from my upbringing, from being around Birdman,” he began, when Sherman praised his talent-scouting abilities.

When Sherman asked why people hate on Drake, Weezy didn’t hesitate to weigh in. “He red, he light-skinned.”

“That’s just American history,” he continued. “How I know is, because I’m not light-skinned. I hated on all light-skinned dudes in school. So yeah, it’s American history, man.”

As for Gates, he’s been promoting his latest album, The Ceremony, and making headlines for talking about his “semen retention journey.”

The Baton Rouge rapper made a return visit to Million Dollaz Worth of Game for an episode that dropped on Sunday (January 28). During the interview, he revealed that he’s still on the semen retention “journey” that he spoke about when he visited the program back in 2021.

Gates said he has been on his mission for the past five years, though he wasn’t a purist about it.

“You gon’ release every now and then,” he explained. “You gon’ have a wet dream here and there. You don’t beat yourself up about it, because anything in your body that need to come out gon’ naturally come out.”

Kevin Gates explained that as part of his regimen, he avoided pornography and masturbation. And he said that he keeps to the program even during sex.

“Even when I’m with a woman, once she get off, I’m done,” he continued.

The “2 Phones” spitter said he had been reluctant to talk about the topic for fear of his comments about it getting turned into “clickbait.”

Among the benefits, Gates claimed, were that “it makes a man more cognitive in his life,” as well as better skin.

“You look at men and they release a lot, their skin don’t glow,” he elaborated. “They skin almost look grey.”

Gates took credit for what he said was the increased popularity of semen retention — a popularity that he said dated back to his earlier Million Dollaz… appearance.