Yasiin Bey is responding to his now-viral comment about Drake‘s music being pop and says he didn’t mean to slander Drizzy.

Yasiin Bey Addresses Drake Comments

On Monday night (Jan. 29), the artist formerly known as Mos Def hopped on social media to address the uproar made over his comments about Drake.

“It was not an opportunity to try to slander him or clown him,” Bey says in the video clip below. “I have reached out to him. I have no responses yet. I’m not keen to talk about people, or to them, through their screen. I like to talk with people directly. But I will say this, the young man is very talented. He’s been able to be very successful with that talent. I have no issue with his success or anything he’s been able to achieve as a result of his talent.”

He continued: “I do feel some of the criticism he’s received in the past been mean spirited and unfair. So, I don’t want to participate in that. If I was perceived to be harsh or mocking  or taunting, that is not my intention.”

Read More: Everything You Need to Know About Drake and Yasiin Bey’s Beef

As previously reported, during an interview with The Cutting Room Floor podcast released on Jan. 10, Bey was asked to opine on Drake’s music and said he consider’s the Canadian MC pop.

“Drake is pop to me,” Bey stated. “In the sense like, if I was in Target in Houston and I heard a Drake song, it feels like a lot of his music is compatible with shopping. Or shopping with an edge, in certain instances.”

Drake responded to the perceived slight on Instagram by using Bey’s own lyrics, and later appeared to refer to the elder rapper as a “bohemian buck,” which is a Canadian slang for junkie.

Common has since come to Drake’s defense while also praising Bey.

Read More: These 20 Drake Songs Have Never Been Performed Live

See video of Yasiin Bey reacting to backlash for his comments about Drake below.

Watch Yasiin Bey Address His Drake Comments