Drake Speaks On The "Number One Spot" & Abandoned Aaliyah Project

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Drake speaks on the scrapped Aaliyah album he worked on, the "number one spot" and more with Elliott Wilson.

We've already learned a lot about the creation of Drake's Nothing Was The Same in the first few clips from his CRWN interview with Elliott Wilson, and the newest installment is no exception. Drake answers some questions from fans, shedding light on some of the inspiration for the album, his abandoned Aaliyah project, and the "number one spot".

On getting clowned for his style:
I don't want to look like these other guys. It's just not that serious. It could be way worse, I could be in real trouble. Yep, I was on Degrassi. Yes, I wear sweaters. Yes, I wore a throwback Dada outfit and it was crazy. Yes, I did it. I don't give a fuck. This is my life.

On dream collaborations:
Before things went downhill with it, I was actually working with my dream collaboration. Me and 40 were working on this Aaliyah album, that kind of got blown out of proportion. There are records with me and Aaliyah that no one has ever heard, and they're really good.

If there's one person I would still want to work with, it would be Sade.

On why the Aaliyah project fell through:
I think the press got out of hand, they maybe just had a different vision for it. I'm not sure. It was sounding great to me. Whatever they end up doing with it, I wish them the best of luck. There might be a record with me on there, I'm not sure.

On Twitter:
Twitter isn't real by the way. There's no gauge on real life on twitter. That's a terrible medium to exist in. You can enjoy it, you can even indulge in it, just don't live your life by that weird code.

I do subtweet sometimes though.

On the "Number One Spot":
I don't want number one spots. Four or five weeks ago, there was another guy who was in the number one spot according to the entire world. All these discussions about number ones, and classics, I don't care. I just want to make good music, and I want you to enjoy it. As long as we have that relationship for the duration of my career, I'm good.

On NWTS inspiration:
I was more listening to music that nobody was listening to. [My friend Oliver] gives me music that no one else listens to. That music combined with the extremely hood shit, like Lil Herb-- I balance it all out. That comes from me spending summers in Memphis and listening to old Yo Gotti albums, and Three 6 Mafia.

When I did "Wu-Tang Forever", all these Wu Tang references started pouring in. I had the Cappadonna line, and then Cappadonna called in and did the ad-lib and then Timbaland had the "C.R.E.A.M." hook. I liked it because it was a consistent thread. Not that I was trying to make some Wu-Tang tribute album, it just made it consistent.

I really was more inspired by 40, Detail, and Oliver's selections, more so than any other artist. I wan't inspired as much by anybody else's music other than the people around me.

Watch the full interview below.


Drake

Drake Speaks On The "Number One Spot" & Abandoned Aaliyah Project
About The Author
<b>Features &amp; News Writer</b> <!--BR--> Trevor is a music writer currently based in Montreal. Follow him on <a href="https://twitter.com/trevsmith_" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a>.