Transcription
Guy, right here, man. I know I'm saying you should just stay there the whole time. Seriously. Working my life. Do I take your chair? What? What happens here? I'm—you're out of here. All hate to do it to you. It's been a pleasure meeting you, man. Thank you for playing me the album. Glad I was able to give you a couple copies for the road as well.
Here we are in 40's state-of-the-art. This is kind of, I suppose, the official home of OVO Sound. This is the heart now of OVO Sound here in Toronto, out in OVO space in Toronto. Um, it's 40's spot where the music gets made. 40's, uh, what do they call it, like a brain—brainchild? Is that what they say? This 40's creation from the ground up. I mean, I was—was here when—when there were no walls. I was here when there was no—no not even a hint of a studio or any—and um, he saw it through to the end. I mean, incredible execution on a vision that he had from very, very early on. I know he's always—he's always enjoyed living in the same space that he works in, so he's been able to build this—build this—this complex that we utilize to get the job done.
When you walked in here for the first time, because I was thinking like, rooms—you can catch a vibe pretty quick. Yeah. And you know, 40 obviously built this—you were there for the process—but when, you know, he called you in for the first session, did you—did you catch a vibe? Did you record something that first night?
I was here, um, I was here a few times as you know, I was here like when this room first started functioning and everything else wasn't built. I think—I think maybe the first—one of the first things we did here that got released was probably Back to Back, ironically enough, but I think that was kind of one of the—that's how you—that's how you—that's how you broke the bottle on the bow. That was like one of the first—that was like one of the first things that we actually recorded and—and—and it tangible energy from the get-go. I mean, you know, just get it execution, man. Just following suit, you know. I watched 40 execute, so I had to come in here and execute too.
That's how many visitors really—I mean, I know there's a lot of people in here tonight for obvious reasons, because you know we're trying to capture something, you know, but um, you know, when it's—when it's business time, how many—how many visitors generally roll through here? Because the vibe I get is you guys keep it pretty—pretty low.
Yeah, I don't really—I'm not really into like a whole bunch of people and distraction. Um, I have, you know, I have respect for everybody in their craft and whatever they do, so I expect the same thing when people come in here. I don't want a bunch of hustle and bustle, talking and loud, you know. And the other thing that's tough when you invite people in the studio is they're obviously coming to watch something happen, right? And it—it doesn't always happen every night, you know. It's not like every night is some magic moment. I mean, there's nights of frustration, there's nights of nothingness, there's nights of just, you know, uh, these little tactical, uh, things that clinical surgical edits and stuff that it gets, you know, it's—ing right. So I—I pretty much gauge, uh, the character that are allowed to sit in here based off like how they conduct themselves on those type of nights, um, and I think I have a pretty immediate—immediate team that is able to sit in here and I—I—I—I don't want to notice you as—and that's not to be offensive, I just don't want to know that you're here. I want to be able to—to get up and—and just go in there and—and spill. You know, worrying about people's feelings or tensions or any of that stuff—it makes perfect sense.
You know, today, unless you change your mind, the album's done. It's done, 40. While the game was on. Yeah. It's crazy. I mean, we're literally watching the Raptors while 40 was, you know…
Mhm. I think the line was from Noel was, right now, we've been finished for seven seconds. Yeah. This—I came in, he was like, "No, I sent the—I sent the—the email seven minutes ago. We've been finished for seven minutes." And he went to his computer, he's like, "I never sent it." The game clock was kind of measuring the—the album clock too, you know.
Man, synonymous. The world clock has been measuring, you know. And to a certain extent, that's your fault, cuz back on August the 6th in 2014, you announced the name of the record. Yeah. Now I have, you know, I—I spoke to your friend Skepta about announcing records prematurely, and he was pretty straight about it. He wished he hadn't done it. He felt the pressure of announcing "Konnichiwa" way up front added additional pressure to him. I mean, you did it almost two years before you delivered the record. How did it work for you, that announcement on, you know, in 2014?
I think the—the announcement was more than just the album title. It was just the shift in the city, you know, that we—we saw an opening there, you know. It was—it was, I think the name took on a life of its own, um, and you know, now the city is obviously referred to as what it—what it is and—and yeah, I mean, I—me and Oliver always are very cautious about that, uh, we never want to prematurely announce anything, but I kind of feel like it's crazy that you say two years. It really doesn't feel like two years. I mean, I just had this plan to finish this album and then—but I—I remember I was like, "Oh man, well, you know, I'm going to do a mixtape, just cuz I'm just like at this place where I'm—I'm—I'm in this hotel every night and I just want to make rap music." And I always—always wanted to make a—a project with Boi-1da, uh, just like exclusively, like his—his brand of music, like just hard—like, uh, try and just snap as much as I could and get as many joints as I could in—in a short amount of time, um, and so that's kind of, you know, I was really adamant about finishing that mixtape first, and then I said, "Okay, then I'll move on." Because when we—when we do these albums, I mean, and especially if it's me and 40, it's never not been me and 40, but when we—in 40 lock in, we really lock in, and we take it very serious, and it's not—it's not some like rush job, you know. We—we—we'll sit there and—and we like, I said, some nights we don't even come here and make music, some nights we just talk—we talk and we listen and, you know, we try and figure out what—what the direction is and what—what works for me.
And it seems to me that might be a distinction between, because you blur the line so successfully and helped in the evolution of mixtapes that've been around in existence for a long time, and yet when you started to do it and some of your peers started to do it at a similar time, these mixtapes were becoming blockbusters in their own right. They weren't just moving the streets anymore, they were actually moving the sales and the charts, and you were touring off the back of these things.
Well, that was it. I mean, I—I went on a full-blown tour off *If You're Reading This It's Too Late*, and it went straight to iTunes, and I feel like that's like a—that's a 100% a possibility, and same thing we do with a lot of the OVO Sound artists, you know, it's like, "Why not? You put all this time in—they're all original songs—why shouldn't it be able to be," you know? I understand—I understand the—the—the joy of getting a free body of work from somebody, but you know, this is like one of the only platforms we—we have left to like generate interest and income and all these, you know, these like—just get the attention and make it that easy to access as opposed to going to 10 different places to try and find it once—links are being…
Yeah, you know. So I—it's focusing your audience, isn't it?
Yeah, it is. And that's really what it's about right now is—is—is—and that's—I mean, not to like shamelessly plug, but even what, you know, what we've been doing with Apple Music and stuff like that, it's like, you know, just focusing the audience and giving them a place to go and hone in on, you know, this one hub to go get everything. Um, but with that being said, you know, I—I—I—I finished that tape and was really happy with it. A lot of the songs got bigger than expected, and we had to go do some shows.
I wonder—I wonder if you know if it—I mean, I know you dropped it in the early hours in the morning and it was just like, "Wake up, surprise—here's a Drake record," and everything else, but I know how I feel about that album and millions of other people do as well, and that record has become, in many respects, a modern-day classic, and I wondered if that caught you off guard.
Um, yeah, I definitely—I definitely always just treated it like a mixtape. I—I—I was never, you know, even—even like the difference between this album and that is like the—the—the time we spent on the transitions, the layering of the production, the—the—the changes—this—this like just sonically, even the time that 40 and Gadget put in, um, you know, it—this was just a tape that we did in my hotel room at the end of the day. So I mean, it's—it's great that people love it. I mean, I always just looked at it as a bridge to get to where—where we're at today. And then—and then from that, I mean, I ended up going to Atlanta and—and sitting with Future for six days, and he's just—a machine, man. He's a machine. It's crazy. I've never seen anybody with that much of a catalog, like I mean, songs that I still think about to this day that I heard in that studio that I'm like, "When is that coming?" Oh, I've seen him—I've seen people loading projects—I've loaded projects while he's been—and he's like, "How long is this going to take?" Like 15 minutes. He's like, "Load up that other thing so I can jump on that thing for 15 minutes and finish that." I mean, every minute counts. It's incredible.
Yeah, it's just that natural, you know, when you're in that—you catch that stride and it's natural—you're not—you're not overthinking it, you're just doing what you want to hear—what—what you feel, you know. That's—that's what—that's what people are connecting to with him. I mean, he's just doing what he feels right away, and it's—it's incredible. Not too many people can do that. I can't do that. I mean, my—my approach is very way more calculated than…
Yeah, that must have been a nice six days. It must have almost felt like a busman's holiday, by that I mean like a chance to just not be Drake for a second, you know, just, "I'm going to go for six days and whatever happens, happens." And I went—I went there with the hopes of doing like two songs, you know, but you get in a studio with, you know, you got—you got Future who's, like I said, ready to work at any given time and has four or five songs on the go, and then you've got guys like Metro and Esco who are being like, "Oh, well, what about this song? And what about this? And oh, play him this," and the energy of just Atlanta and how these guys have the whole city, you know, on fire—it just—it happened, you know. It—it—it—it just happened. We had a tape at the end of the week, and *Jumpman* was the last song, ironically enough.
How did that one happen? Because that one has—I mean, there's a lot of anthems that have come through off that record as well. You can't go into a championship environment—not big rings, um, but—but—but *Jumpman* in particular, I mean, obviously the Taylor treadmill—add again, not to shamelessly plug, but—but it's hilarious. I mean, legendary. Legendary, right? So that song is—I love Taylor too, man. So smart. She's just—she's just like such a sweetheart, man, for—for doing that, but also just like in general, she's so angelic to me, man. I'm still trying to find the cut where it—turn—when it goes from her to stunt person. I know it was seamless.
Yeah. Um, tell us about the making of that—of that song. Or in fact, let's just broaden it—give us—give us your fondest memory of making that—that—those six days of doing a session with Future. What was the song that was the most energy and most fun to get out?
I mean, *Our Song*, the whole trip was—was *Digital Dash*, you know, the first song, um, it—I mean, he had just bodied it so much that I was trying to find my way on it, you know, trying to find how I even had a presence on him because he was just killing it for like two and a half minutes, and which traditionally you only get if you—if—if—if you're locked in for a 16 or 32 bars spot on someone else's record, you might get that competitive spirit.
Yeah. 100%. When you're on your own all the time, not easy to—you're fighting yourself.
Yeah. Well, it was—it was—it was just—it was more the fact that it was presented to me as a finished piece, so I was like, "Oh man, I got to—you know, I got to—um—I got to try and be a part of this—this moment and—and do it justice," but I—we—we had just—just—uh—we had done a dinner one night while I was out there and—uh—remember we was just—just us—just immediate group, and we just kept playing *Digital Dash*, you know, we are just—it was—it was kind of the birth of like, "Should we do a whole—should this be like a whole thing or we just doing like one or two songs?" And it was just kind of like the—the—the realization of, "I think we're going to make a whole project together." Oh, and I think we're going to tour it for the summer, and I think now it's a thing—now it's a thing—it's a thing. Yeah, you know.
Um, never done these songs live before. In fact, man, you have *Views* to play, you have this album to play, you have elements of *If You're Reading This…* I mean, this—and then I got other songs coming out this summer too, like just stuff that I got in the stash, you know, showing off, man. We're gonna get—by the time we get to tour, I got a—I'm going to have an arsenal of songs that don't have anything to do with *Views* that'll be, you know, ready to be performed. We're going to get to all of that, but just focusing on the tour itself—it's just been announced, you know, Summer Sixteen Tour, um, also featuring Roy Woods in division—a special guest. So are you—I mean, I know you just finished the record, but I mean, you must be in a hurry to get into a rehearsal stage because it's not that far away.
Yeah, I've been—I've been brainstorming for a long—for—for about two, three months now, just on tour production. Um, this—this album is probably my highest level of vocal performance, I'd say.
In what sense?
Uh, I really—um—tried to—I was listening to like, uh, Stevie Wonder's *All I Do* and, uh, Alabama Shakes' *Give Me All Your Love*, and just these songs that really connected with me. It went for, you know, I like—I said, I'd come off those two mixtapes and it was about being in the club, it was about having the hottest joints, and this was more like, "What—what—what is a cohesive incredible listening experience from me? What can I do for this generation to just take—create distance between myself and—and anyone else and do something that, you know, maybe no one else can really achieve or accomplish?" And uh, I think I used my writing and my—and my voice in ways that I, you know—in the same thing I was talking about, sometimes you could look in someone's eyes—and in someone's eyes—and they've just clicked out, you know. I think I clicked out in a sense of just—um—I'm really proud of the—the songwriting on here.
Stress yourself?
I don't know if it's stress. I think it's just stretch.
Oh, stretch.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was just more—it was just more, um, you know, there—there's a way to do this with, you know, uh, still like the, you know, a catchy element—still this like massive amount of integrity—still this, you know, something that makes me feel like I—there—I said this the other day—I don't know if there's a song on this album that I can say like, "Oh, well, I did that for that reason." No, it's all just like, "I did it because I would want to listen to something like that," and I'm really proud of that.
And not to try and betray any trust, because me and 40 obviously had a little bit of time to bond and hang out—know each other while you guys were down court side of the Raptors game, but he was saying that, you know, unless you could both look at each other at the end of that session and say, you know, "This is our favorite joint—our favorite song on this record," then it's not even in contention.
Well, every song has—has had a—a run of being, you know, our favorite, where, you know, 40 gets in his car and drives, and whether he's going to pick up musical equipment or whether he's going to, you know, speak at a high school, it's all about, you know, his drive time. And—and for me, I had speakers set up in my bedroom this time in my apartment, and it was all about me coming home being able to plug into my phone and like, "Do I want to listen to myself or do I want to listen to like some other songs that I'm into?" And if I didn't want to listen to myself, then there was a problem there, you know, because I really—I wanted to be excited about the music that we were creating. And I think I finally—it clicked with me around when we were in Los Angeles. I started realizing like, "Okay, I—I—I—I—I think I have a formula that—that works for me."
September—October time last year?
Yeah. Something like that. Yeah, maybe a little even later than that—maybe—yeah, end of October—November. I think I really started like catching that. I think it may come as a surprise to some people that the record has been—has been recorded in a—in a—in a concerted body of time, I think because of the early announcement, people think—did this—and also, you know, rumors of this record coming have been persisting now for well over a year, because again, August 6th, 2014, um, and I—and I think it may come as a shock—the timeline, um, but you know, correct me if I'm wrong, you know, you started in earnest with 40 with the—with the idea of—of—of working on a body of work that would become *Views from the 6* from September of 2015. You kind of settled into it effectively?
Yeah, I mean, I think that we had ideas—we had, uh, you know, it might have been something as small as like, "Oh, I did a verse and I like four lines from this verse." I mean, I was very, very hard on myself. I scrapped full songs just to take out one thought. Yeah, I wasn't like—I wasn't patting myself on the back every time I got something done. And as an artist, you know, sometimes you can be working so hard in here that just to get something done feels nice, then you got to wake up and realize like, "Was it actually good or did we just finally get something done?" And I think this time I—I really—I really didn't take any pride in getting something done unless it was something, you know…
And yeah, I mean, we ended up with like a 20—20 song album. It's going to be 20 tracks on there—20 songs on there, including "One Dance" as a bonus.
Yeah, a bonus. So 19 new songs. Yeah. One of the biggest songs of 2015—here's your bonus. Congratulations. Um, that song is—is an anomaly, you know. It was—it was…
Just completely unavoidable for the majority of last summer and beyond. It was easily one of the biggest songs of the year, and never went to number one, and never got nominated for a Grammy, I don't think. And uh, and yet it was—it was the song that, along with a couple of others, really captured people's attention in a massive way.
What's it like having a hit like that at a time? Um, just kind of—you just take it for what it is. I don't know, it was unexpected. I recorded it in a hotel room in London, um, and like I don't even know if he's in here, but I remember like my—my cameraman, Theo, I'm sorry to do this to you, but I mean we had a great, classic discussion that I always remember where he was just like, "Yo, you—when you were recording it, I didn't—I didn't get it." I just—you were feeling it? Yeah, no, not really. Great on the camera though. Fantastic visual, phenomenal visual, phen—visually, but um, but you know, that's—that's kind of almost an emotion that I search for. I mean, I don't want you to get it right away. If you get it right away, there's something—there's no risk being taken; there's something that's not almost disingenuine; it's not—it's just more like, if you—if you're able to like wrap your head around it and be like, "Okay, cool, I get it," it is what it is, good song. That's not—that's not what like great music is. Great music takes a little—takes a little work on your part, you know. It takes you almost maybe elevating your listening level and becoming, you know, uh, a—a bit more of a sophisticated listener because of a song or because of an album.
Well, G.E., you went as a fan too. I think it's—it's—it's often not sort of reference that you can become complacent as fans. We can become complacent as fans, of course, you know, and—and expect things to ride a certain path and only really fall out of love with them when it's too late. And I think that, you know, that little challenge, that little push in—in that direction, I mean it was an unorthodox pop hit, yeah, you know, but it was a smash nonetheless, and it was helped along by the video too. And we've never spoken about this, and—and part of the problem with not doing interviews, Drake, is that when you finally do them, we have to cover a lot of—so um, you know, are we—I mean, are we talking choreography here? I mean, is this um—it—what are you next doing here? I—I mean, because shut the world down, it was just uh, you know, I have to give credit to Tanisha Scott who uh was on set with me at the time, and she was just like, "Yo, like go up there and have fun," and like, "Yo, if you just be yourself," and um, you know, enjoy the moment. And like, I expected the reaction; I mean, I was praying for it. Oh, the reaction was priceless, man. Cuz the first two days, everyone was just like, "Is he serious?" And then on the—and so it was on the third day, everyone just started kind of doing it. Yeah, and that's my best—that's my best quality is I'm always okay with the first two or three days across the board on anything, not just dancing, like anything, you know, any—whatever it is, I'm always okay. I'm always okay in the first two or three days, but on day four, I mean it's just either it goes away or like—or it takes on a life of its own, and I'm—I'm good with it either way, you know.
So let's get some facts on Views, yeah, cuz you know, fans are hungry for it; they're going to be hearing it very, very soon, any minute really, right? Um, so let's get the facts on it. Um, does it start with a purpose? The track listing—I'm getting to the idea of the journey, the thought process you put into it with 40. How does the record start for you, and what are you saying throughout as an aesthetic that ties you to the city? Give us the—the—the—the atic feel that you've been striving for. The uh—the—the—the album is based around um the change of the seasons in our city, so um, it starts out, you know, in the wintertime, and uh, starts out with a song called "Keep the Family Close," and yeah, that was—that was basically what I used to tie it all together is uh winter to summer and then back to winter again. So it's just to show you—show you the—the—the two extreme moods that we have because we're very grateful for our summers, but we also make our winters work, and they're harsh, yeah, you know. And our summers are hot, and it's—it's—it's really—it's a very unique place. You start to value your days a lot more when you know uh—s months of them are spent in icy cold, like most people wouldn't even go outside type thing, you know. It's—it's—it creates a—creates a different type of atmosphere, a different sound in the music, creates a different type person even, you know. Um, and I—I thought it was really important to make the album here during the winter. I didn't run away from it; I didn't like go to Miami or L.A. just—just cuz I can. I—I came here and made the album and witnessed it happen, you know. I'm witnessing now it's like, "Oh yeah, okay, now the cars can come out," and the, you know, people are like, "There's no more puffy jackets," and it's nice, and it really—it really all those little things mean a lot, you know. There's nights where you can't drive and go check your people, you know. There's—there's—there's a lot of elements for us that uh are very unique to the city, and I tried to capture them within not only the actual music but the layout of it as well. Yeah.
So thematically, there's a visual nature to it. How reflective did you go? You've been known—and some of my favorite moments, and fans' favorite moments, are your records are the ones where you dig deep and you tell an honest story about your upbringing, which people can connect to in their own way. There's a truthfulness at various moments throughout your canon, you know, that people connect to, and I wonder how deep you allowed yourself to go on this record, given it was about your home, and it's—it already gives us a sense of that before you even heard it, Views from the 6. Yeah. I think I've given—did you leave it all in the room? Did I leave it all in the room? Yeah, I always do, you know. Um, I always try my best to give my most accurate time marker of where I'm at at the—at the given time, and uh, I did—I did everything I could, you know, uh, without—you know, without—I—I think I did a really great job of making uh each song a standalone song, though. I didn't just do this—like this album isn't like, "Oh, this is the song where he talks about his family," "Oh, this is the song where he addresses where he—" It's—it's—it's just more—it's—it's like sort of a—a constant stream of my emotions uh, whether it be in love, in life, in this business uh, you know, L.A. versus Toronto and the two lives that are split there, um, and yeah, I think I've really—my—my—my life right now isn't necessarily where it was when I made Look What You've Done or, you know, Too Much, where it was—my—my life is more about me, and I think I was able to—
It sound like you were struggling a bit with the—with—with the process when you're making some of those records too. I—I think back about some of those songs, and it felt like you—there was a—there was a push and a pull going on. Well, I had more—I had more uh direct issues to address at the time that had to do with other people, and this album, I'm very proud to say, it's just like—I feel like I just told everybody how I'm actually feeling, not what this person's going through and this person's going through that affects me. This is more like, "This is where I'm at," um, and I was really—really—it—it takes a lot to get that—get that clear. I mean, that's a tough—it's a tough thing to access. You've already accessed some tough things. I mean, do the moments when you pull yourself up when you're writing when you're like, "This is deep; this is going very deep." Yeah, I've had—I've had my share of moments where I've had—I've had my share of moments where it's almost—it's got—it's gone too deep, and I've had to deal with it after, you know, I've gotten the calls or I've gotten the, you know, had the conversations with people that I love and respect and just, you know, sometimes people have to tell you like, "Yo, that was a bit—that was a bit much," you know. Um, but I never—I never set out like—it's—I never set up with malicious intention. I'm just a very—I'm a very honest person. I can't write fiction, you know. I can't—I can't—I can't really do uh like these sort of like um themed like story songs that have like—like are just like a story about someone else that I either made up or don't—like it all has to directly do it with me, or else I can't make them music. So I think everyone around me knows that, and I think everyone around me knows that I have a respect level, and I—I'm—I'm proud of the fact that I'm able to word it in a way that even if it is a harsh truth, I think people—I mean, there's some harsh—harsh truth on this album, but I think that it's—at least it's truth. I mean, people have to respect that, right?
How many—should we talk collaborations real quick? I mean, Popcaan's on it. Uhuh. Jay and Kanye are on it, or are not on it? Um, I—I—I actually—well, I just ended up going with my version of that song, right? So the second version that you—th—that we heard on—on radio that has you across—across both of them, um, you know, seeing the throne on a record. So yeah, I mean that's going to—that's going to generate some excitement. I mean, the Watch the Throne project is hallowed; I mean, people talk about that with a real misty eye because of those few years they toured that, and the iconography and the music that came from that project, we all love it. Um, but I was—I was talking to a friend of mine after I heard that record, and he was like, "Oh, it's—it's great, but why do you think Jay's verse was so short?" Well, Jay didn't really do a verse. I mean, exactly. I mean, I'm calling it a verse. How come he did one line? Yeah, I—it was really—I just was trying to get Ye on it at first, and Ye just sent it to me like that, like, "Yo, Jay—Jay kind of just did my first few lines for me," and he was just here, and that's how we, you know, flexed it, and it was cool, you know. And he was—he was like all like excited about, "Yo, just put the throne; it would be a crazy moment." Um, I mean, of course, people want to hear Jay-Z rap, right? So hearing him do two lines might be frustrating to—obviously, like a certain—a curiosity about it, you know, because it's like, when you think about it, and also I think, you know, you make art in a—in a—in an environment which fans—we all, man, you know, we—we search for hidden meaning constantly because there's so much—there's so much language in the rhymes; there's so much you can pull apart at any given time and search for meanings, be them obvious or hidden. And I'm sure it's no—it's no mystery to you that, you know, over the course of your career, despite the fact you've collaborated with him, that there's been some talk about you and Jay, and I think that that was of interest when he appeared on the record. People were like, "Oh, okay, well, what's the truth here? What's the vibe? Friendly competition? Are they good? Are they not good? What's the—what's the—what's the feels?" Yeah, I mean, like I said, you know, I always set out to—I was just having a conversation with Kanye that just landed in my lab, you know. Um, so I just dealt with it accordingly, and um, you know, it didn't exactly play out how—how I would have wanted it to as far as like, you know, business or whatever goes, so I just uh—just figured it would be easier to go with my version. And I mean, listen, I—I—I—I've expressed my admiration and respect for Jay countless times; that'll never change. Um, you know, we're just uh—sometimes we just fall on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the rap world, and you know, it's no—like again, it's always just mutual respect, but sometimes it has to be from afar due to other situations that really don't have anything to do with me and him.
Right on. But that's not the big question. The big question is how big is Kanye's pool? That's the big question. And how—how big does a pool have to be these days in order for it to get a name-check and a record that was really just like some friendly neighbor bars? You know, me and Kanye—I—I—I take pride in being Kanye's neighbor, you know. I take pride in our little community of Calabasas, and uh, it was just—it was just me poking fun at, you know, living up the street from him, and uh, you know, never—never any disrespect intended. It was supposed to be—it was supposed to make people laugh.
Come on, how deep are we going to go here? Exactly, yeah, you know. I mean, it's like—sounds like he has a nice pool though. Has a phenomenal pool. He has a phenomenal house; don't ever get it twisted. His pool is like—it's got to be like half a football field or something. But—means yours is a football field? I—well, mine was just designed to like outdo Hugh Hefner's pool, and I've succeeded. Previous owner designed that pool. Yeah, he was—he wanted—he wanted a better pool than the Playboy Mansion, so I have a better pool than the Playboy Mansion, and I'm willing to sell it for $100 million, just like Hugh. So if anybody wants to buy it, it's—it's on the market. I know you got the money. Nope. Uh, you know, Kanye talked about music. I mean, one of the wonderful things, you know, I've—I've said—and situations not as similar to this with him—and I love the fact that, you know, there were no holes bar with that guy. I—I really genuinely appreciate his thinking and—and—and—and he's a very honest and open person, as the world knows, and he's—he's been pretty open about music too, and the way he—he says it. You guys have—have recorded stuff too. I mean, are you aware of music that—that he's talking about that you guys have recorded together? And oh yeah, I mean, discuss how it comes out, what does it do? I mean, will the world get to hear it? People are hungry to hear that stuff too. Yeah, we—we—like I said, we live up the street from each other, so you know, on any given night, I mean, I've been in my room—like just came from training, working out, and they've come—come in my room, been like, you know, "Ye's in the kitchen with your mom; he says he's here to like work or whatever," so—or, you know, vice versa, I'll pull up at his house and just see what he's—see what he's doing. He's always in there, you know, going crazy with somebody, some vibes, and you know, we'll just sit and collaborate. That's—that's what music is about. We have—we have a few things that we've worked on, and uh, it's always just about finding a place for it. I mean, with him, you never know; he might call me tonight and be like, "Yo, these two songs that we did are—are coming out." But definitely um, Ye is one of my favorite people, period, like in the world, man. I just like really have a—a—I—I—I love Ye, man. He's a—he's a really, really good guy. Obviously, grew up with him as a role model; I mean, I've always given him that credit that he's part of the reason that I'm even here right now, open doors for us, um, and yeah, it's just amazing to be able to be his friend. I think we have a really great friendship, you know, and we have one of those friendships that you don't really get often in rap because we can like link each other and discuss anything, you know, whether it's, you know, "You feeling away about this," or "Us working on this," or, you know, just leisure talk. It is what it is, you know. We have a great relationship, so uh definitely I—I—I hope we—I hope we get some more music out ASAP. Yeah, I mean that would be nice. Yeah, it would be nice. We had plans, but we—we were supposed to do a—we were supposed to do a mixtape together, album together, so um, maybe we'll get that done now that—now that we're—you just open that door; me people marching down the street now eventually.
So, man, so who is on the record? Um, well, Rihanna's on the record, of course. Wouldn't be a record without Rihanna, would it? Really? I mean, you guys have a rich collabor—collaborative history. We have a—we have—yes, we—we do well together as a team. Party Next Door, yeah, division, yeah, that Pimp C um verse on Faithful, which unfortunately trickled out, but the final version is a lot more developed. Um, um, I've got um—man, I'm trying to think—Whiz Khalifa, obviously. Wiz Khalifa and Kylo, of course. Yeah. Um, you know, I've got some little—I've got little anecdotes from people; I've got like Popcaan and Beenie Man and just like little segways and stuff like that, so um, yeah, it's—it's really—it wasn't really about features, though.
Yeah, I wondered about that, because—and it hasn't been for a minute, and—and even thinking back to Nothing Was the Same… Future—future—future on—future on. Yeah. And predominantly produced by 40, overseen at least by 40. 100%, yeah. That was the key with this one was just um—we had to like just sit across from each other and be like, "Yo, we're going to do that; we're going to do our—we're going to do our album for the city," right. Well, that's kind of what it is because it's been like—I mean, if you think about Thank Me Later and, you know, Take Care, and these are the records that—that like you say there's a—there's layers to them that it seems that you and 40, you drive each other too. Yeah, I can't achieve that with anyone else really. I mean, um, and you know, obviously the third piece of the puzzle is—is Oliver, you know, always pushing us to just do better, do better. Seriously though. I mean, no doubt, man. He pushes all of us to do better. I mean, Jesus, man, at the aesthetic of the show. Yeah, so um—all right, so we have to rewind just a little bit because fans will want to know the—tell us about the recording experience with Rihanna on the—what's the song called? What's it about? Give us an overview about that song for so we can refer to when people listen to the record. Uh—um, well, the song's called "Too Good" and it was kind of—it came to fruition after we did work—I was able to be like, "I think I have one that would follow this up really nicely," and uh, she just—I mean, she got in the studio and just bodied it. It was like flawless victory when she—when she sent it back. I was like, "Oh, man," it was like every—every nuance, every cadence, everything was perfect. Um, and yeah, it's just another—another piece to add to our—our catalog, which I'm very proud of, you know. I think we do—I think we do great music together. It's tough to do like guy-girl collabs without them being—especially for you two, cuz as soon as you guys sit in the room together, man, everybody starts talking. That's the thing, like I think that the chemistry and the collaboration and the history that you guys—I think that's what makes the records better, though, because there's something genuine there; we're not like forcing some story on people. I mean, it's, you know, a lot of the—a lot of the music…
That we make and the energy that we bring is is genuine. I mean, we have a lot of genuine energy between us, so yeah, we have a genuine energy. No, for sure, for sure. Um, so let's talk about let's talk about uh the city of. Oh, is Skepta on the record? No. Skepta was really, really—I mean, I only caught up with him a few times, and he was obviously immersed in, yeah, Kicha, of course, yeah, which is coming out May 6, and I'm really excited for him. And um, I think the SC to have to like—I mean, we obviously that one Wizkid song was amazing, and I think we just got to kind of link up and just be like, what is it? What what is it? What what what is it? Drake and Skepta song sound like? I think it would only take like one or two nights to figure it out, but we—I mean, every time I see him, he's fully focused on on his album. And then the one time that he was able to come out here, I was unfortunately locked away in this room working just as just as intensely on on mine. So um, yeah, I'm I'm excited to hear his project. Like that man's song that he dropped—ridiculous, crazy. Right? Crazy.
One of the cool things about, you know, the the relationship that you struck up with Boy B, know, and and with OVO is that both of you represent your your cities in a very proud way, you know. And Skepta and Boy Beno out there, and they're just like, "It's London time." Love it though, you know. Yeah, love that man. Exactly. And you know, you're out there on an OVO level, you know, as you have been for a while, you know, talking up Toronto with good reason. Um, you know, when I think about Toronto, and I think one of the things that makes it unique is the fact that, as far as the legacy of hip-hop culture up to this point, there's an outsider nature to it. Oh yeah. And I wonder where that comes from, where that confidence comes from amongst you and your friends and your peers to be like, "No, well, we can we can make our mark on this culture," and the way Atlanta did, the way that, you know, other cities like uh uh, you know, New Orleans did. A lot of other great cities have done so. When did you feel a sway moving towards Toronto?
I think it's just about—it's not even necessarily a sway moving towards Toronto; it's just about realizing that the details and the little things about your upbringing or your culture are actually extremely appealing to the world, as long as you present them with confidence. I think the parallel that you just drew with Skepta and with—I mean, music coming out of London period—is just the fact that they're finding a way to blur the lines where it's not like, "Oh, that's a like that's a that's some music from London, and I noticed the accent right away." Like these guys are finding beats and hooks and pockets that you don't even notice it's just—same way how surreal I feel when I hear people in America talking about like, "Tings," or or, you know, "taking bat Ubers," or this that. Like I hear people using our slang that we use on Instagram or or wherever, and I see people incorporating it into their like day-to-day talks, and it it just like it's all it's it's always been cool. It's just sometimes you just got to wake up and realize like, "Man, there's really nothing cooler than this." I I don't want to show up here with like the super fake American accent and be like, "You know," a lot—that that was at one point in our city was the thing—was like you had to pretend like you were from New York or you had to pretend like you were from somewhere in the states to kind of be like respected and cool. Not musically, I just think like on a like just a level when you're speaking to someone. I feel like that was the that was the thing, and now it's kind of like if you don't claim Toronto, it's like, "What do you—you're a waste," you know. Like you got the wind at your back. But I think even back to 2010, I know the pride was in place, but you know, you coming off the back of of a lot of hype—I mean, you were definitely the new rapper of the moment, no question—and you look at the the credits of that on on that album on that on on on Thank Me Later, and you look at those, and it's like, you know, there's a lot more sort of producers from the United States of America, there's a lot more guest appearances from people. It felt like more of a pop statement, and it it's almost like you've gone to that place and then you've come back over the course of the subsequent records.
Yeah, I think Thank Me Later was just a point in my life where I felt like I needed to like prove to everybody, "Okay, yo, people accept me. Look, look, I could get I could do songs with this person, and I can do," you know. I did—you ever truly feel accepted in some respects? And I don't mean that from their point of view—not trying to lay that on them—but have you always been a little bit suspicious about, "Are they judging me because I'm from Toronto and I'm not from that Circle necessarily?" No, I don't I don't I don't know if people judge me based off that. I just always I've always just felt like an outsider naturally, you know, and I think that just has to do with like the better you do at music, the more you're going to feel like an outsider. It doesn't matter—I could be from Australia, you know, I could be from anywhere. It's just when you start doing well, they'll they'll people will make you feel like an outsider. I mean, you could be you could be an insider, and they'll make you feel like an outsider. Doesn't—yeah. But something changed from a fan's point of view after around Nothing Was the Same. I can—you laying the seed down on that record where it was like, "All right, I'm starting to reflect on this in a different way."
Yeah, it was just it was just more um spending more time at home, you know. I wasn't all over the place; I wasn't on the road. I remembered like, you know, what it is that I like set out to do, you know, was So Far Gone, and like I I started just realizing like the the the incredible culture that we have here, and I just started want—I wanted to shovel it like onto everyone else and be like, "Yo, look at this! Like this is something," you know, and I think this album is probably the most blatant display of me being proud of where I'm from and just completely having uh evolved in a way where you're right, you know. It's like I went to Thank Me Later, and I you know, it was like it was Young Money, it was and everything just looked bigger. I mean, all these cities looked bigger, and the lights looked brighter. Seen footage of you rolling through a verse off the off a Blackberry or something while you're on a Funk Flex show, and I'm just like, "Man, you were the center of the universe." I mean, yeah, I was a kid, you know. I was just trying to like—I didn't even realize the video footage was probably going to drop; I was just trying to get my little bars off, and you know, I was on Funk Flex; like I was just trying to not not flop, you know, and like, "Don't be a flunky." Yeah, but it's like it is what it is. I'm proud of that too, you know. People can say what they want; like that's part of—yeah, exactly. I grew up in this, man. I I made—like if if that's my mistakes, then let that be my mistakes. I'm proud of a mistake, but I but I remember like um, you know, after Nothing Was the Same, and then we got If You're Reading This, yeah, and again, I mean, I man, it was like this this this really healthy, sharp-tongued belligerence—sit in—and I and I was like, "Oh, he's claiming it!" Like he's made these great albums; he's had this success, but as a rapper, he's going for it.
Yeah, I mean, there's no denying it—on that record, you were you were going—you were going hard on the mic. Yeah, like I just [Music] um, it's a shame if you don't notice the shift and energy around you. I mean, you can't be oblivious to what's going on around you, and I just I just like kind of woke up one day like, "Yo, this is my this is my time; this is my like I like this is my thing. I run this," you know. Like nobody could really talk to me; I'm I'm good at what I do, and you know, I'm I'm I'm ready for anything, really, you know, whatever it is—whether it's One Dance or whether it's Know Yourself or whether it's Energy or whether it's whatever—I'm ready. I'll shell out anybody, you know. I'm not I'm not I don't—there was just a point where I was just like, "Yo, I I don't give a—I'm ready to take on anything," and that was, you know, I think that was that moment. Yeah, that was just that moment. I was I was proud of all we had accomplished, um, and yeah, I just made that switch like, "Yo, it's my time," for the next however long till till I decide it's not, you know, till I decide to stop coming in here and working this hard, cuz you know, I just I just feel like that's that's where we're at. And it's not even like it's it's it's more—I say that more to like encourage like even even when we're talking about the playoffs or talk—it's like, "Yo, sometimes you have to realize like, yo, this is it; it's happening now," you know, "and and this this moment decides the longevity of this whole thing." So you know, some some mornings you got to wake up and be like, "Yo, this is my thing—not anyone else's. No one can talk to me."
You've obviously got deep friendships that go back many, many years that are important to you, and the city is is a breeding ground of that those those are trusted friendships. But jealousy has played a role thematically throughout your career. Yeah, you know, it has, and I mean, you know, you've referenced it many times on record, and and you know, becoming 30 later this year, having the chance to reflect on the last 10, 12 years of your journey up to this point, um, you know, have you seen success change the framework of what a friend can mean to you? Have you seen that cliché of um like, "Not my like not my real friends in my real life," and that's like kind of like you have to be able to separate your real life and this—I'm very proud of my real life and the character judgment that I've used throughout the years that I've spent on this Earth. Nobody really that I've ever considered a true friend has switched up, but these like, you know, these fly-by-night people that you just come across—I mean, they're they're all they're all not to be be trusted; they're all—I don't trust none of them, you know. It's like I don't I'm not I'm not really I'm not naive; I'm not out here being like, "Yo, we're all—it's all—it's not buddy-buddy, man. This is war, man," you know, just like anything else—just like sports, just like whatever it is—if you're in accounting—I trick—this this is—we're playing for keeps, bro, you know. I'm not here—I'm not here to—it's not a joke thing to me, you know. So I mean, yeah, I've seen people—I would never expect people—I've had the utmost respect for—do foul, you know, try and if if they could have their way, I'd be I'd be on a I'd be on the street corner with me and all these guys in this room and my family, and we'd be—we'd never to be heard from again, you know, if they had their way. But like I said, I'm not—I'm ready for whatever.
One of the things that's come out of um out of Toronto, which was—it's it's there's a a kind of—for people who knew when you were coming up together—there's a romance to the OVO your beginnings, and he's one of the people who's come out to run on—gone on and achieve great things on his own terms, and as have you, and you know, we haven't seen you guys in a in you know, on a stage or in a in a in a common place for a very long time. And there was a moment at WWDC when you were within each other's range, um, and I wonder whether or not you've had a chance to kind of—now that you both have qualified yourselves to to yourselves, right? You know who you are; it's pretty clear he knows who he is now as an artist—you've been able to toast each other's success and being able to kind of put yourselves in a good place.
MH. Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, you know, that's my guy. We're from the same city, you know. We we grew up with the same goal—trying to do this, you know. Do a lot of the time we spent trying to do it together, you know, like there—memor—I'll never forget, you know, times that we're like we spent real time—not like, you know, like other artist time—like real time, you know. We put in real work together. So uh, I'm proud of his success. Uh, we've both had our moments where we've maybe um felt away and you know, taking it maybe a little left, M, but I can sit here in front of you and just say I have nothing but love for for everybody over there. Uh, I loved watching him last year; it made me super happy. Uh, yeah, what a year, and and well deserved, man. You know, worked hard, made a great body of work, and you know, as a lesson to any any kid that wants to—that's where it gets you—you make great you make great music, and you you know, figure out how to roll it out the right way and do your thing—that's where it gets you—and more power to him, man. I I I've never got the chance to tell him, but I send him all my all my blessings, man, you know, and and I I could never really want any ill for him based off our our like I said, the work we put in and and where he's from—I can't I can't ever feel different.
So where's Toronto at right now creatively, man? Because Summer Sixteen, you know, all these new kids in all these kids in the new Toronto want to be like me a little, and you know, it's interesting to me because at the moment right now, you know, you've got Views from the 6, which is an important love letter—really, it's a reflective moment for your city—where you're from and capturing those seasons and making that happen, you know, and yet, you know, with success comes, you know, little hairline fractures here and there as well, and I wonder what your reflection is on the city creatively, given that you were so instrumental, along with the Weeknd and various others, towards establishing it as a creative hit.
Yeah, I I encourage uh anybody wherever they're from, but obviously we're talking directly about where I'm from, so I encourage anybody to go out there and uh do the most damage that you possibly can—do your thing, get all re—get all the fruits—all—get get everything, you know, become the biggest artist you can possibly be—just don't get up there finally and start talking down on me, you know, especially when we have like no interaction or no like—just don't don't get your first big shot to speak out, and you think it like the right thing to do is to start like trying to, you know, come for the throne, you know. It's like that's not—it's not going to work, and I don't go for that, and that's it. That's as simple as I'm not—it's not like on—it's not—it's just more like common sense. I don't like—what what's the point of that? You know, if if if anytime prior to you ask me about anybody here, I'm bigging them up—it's our city, man, you know. Why would you get up—why would you get up on a public platform and start being like, "Ah, I I'm not really with no man"—that's a—and then and then what? Just to what—to come back and start backpedaling and begging it out—like what's the point? You know? It's like I just always I want to I want to be good and positive with everyone in the city, but I I obviously I expect the same thing, you know, and that's that's it. I just like—like I said, I love seeing people shine; I just I hate when they finally get the platform, and they think the answer is like, "Okay, well, cuz we've never had any—we never had any dealings"—the answer is to like—"How I'm going to get my attention is to attack"—it's like that's not going to work, man. The music speaks, man. It's it's just—it's such a transparent formula—the music speaks, and it will take you as far as you want to go, you know. But you're never going to get that—you're never going to reach that Horizon based off like some slick chatter and like that—that's not really like what—that's not what's going to make people be like, "Oh, that's the next guy right there." No—just come and try and try and kill me off—make a mixtape and try and D my whole wave—that's that's what I want any kid in this city to do, you know, so I can figure out what you missed, and I kill you off right after. All right, one more in the chamber for the fans.
Okay, you know, you came up at a time with with with Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne instrumental in helping you establish yourself, yeah, giving you that support, right? Been tough times for that camp in public between Cash Money and Young Money, M. You seem to have navigated your way into a place of calm through that; you don't seem to be swept into—when—of that stuff that seems to be going on between Baby and Lil Wayne, but in any in any respect, you know, when you think about the relationships you've formed over that time, what they've meant to you over that time, you know, how has it been the last 12 months watching it kind of get get rough?
Um, man, you know, I'm I'm I'm I'm a person that's very grateful for for all the names that you mentioned, you know, specifically Birdman and Wayne, um, and uh it's tough. It's—I be honest with you—it's tough to watch, um, and I have a mutual respect for for both guys, and I pray every day that uh that it it gets worked out and that we um, you know, all find an amicable place again one day.
Do you speak to Nicki about it as well?
Um, I don't really talk to Nicki, you know, and again, another person that I have a lot of love for, man, you know, a lot of love and a lot of respect—not only for our past and how much work and time we put in, but even just the way she dealt with the situation at hand, you know. I understand what love is, and I understand a personal situation, and um, you know, she dealt with me how I would how I would expect her to, which was with class, and m—I I could only ever do the same, you know. Um, there was points in time where I was sitting there waiting to see like, "Okay, is this going to go—I don't know," you know, like, "How how how deep is your love?" You know, like you got to ask yourself, but um, yeah, I I I I always have respect and and and love for Nicki, and unfortunately, we haven't we haven't spoke, but I mean, it is what it is. Even if we don't speak, she knows what it is—it's always love. And with Birdman and Wayne, you know, that's that's that's business, man, and um, it's not like, you know, it's cool to like sit back and laugh at and when people are doing like memes and all that stuff—I mean, obviously that's our new form of entertainment—but at the end of the day, you know, it is a situation that I pray gets resolved because I mean—es—it's people's lives, and it's a legacy. I don't want to see that like I, you know, it's like I don't want to—I—it was amazing to see Kobe go out and score 60 points; I want to see them go out and score 60 points together.
Yeah, I mean, how things hand is it's it's it's as if not more important than how things St. So yeah, that you know, you spoke on uh um you in the six, there's a great line which really jumped out at me, uh, which is you know, we're talking about your mom and talking about, you know, she gets Google Alerts and and it makes me think about like, you know, what is it to be a parent in an environment when your son or your daughter is doing what they love? Yeah, and yet you couldn't be more visible, and in many respects she probably is finding out this certain bits of information by Caris stumbling across things, tripping over things, and what that Balan is like being a son and having a normal relationship with your mom in very abnormal circumstances. It just takes a lot of reassurance. You just got to reassure that you're good. You know, the other day she hit me like, "Oh, I thought you in the game were friends, and he's a he says he he's he's beefing with you because he's building a new pool." I was like, "Mom, your mom's reaching you out over there." Yeah, you know, she's always like in she's always down with the we call the Pasa Passa, that's what we call it, the paa, you know, that's the that's the talk, you know. So my mom's always, she gets all the pasta straight to her phone, but you know, she'll just ask me about it, and I'm always um I'm always very reassuring. I mean, I just try my best to maneuver with a pure i i i proud of the fact I have a pure heart, you know. I I don't have any nothing to hide, you know, about any of those situations. You ask me about nothing. I have nothing. I'm I'm like I feel great, and that's why I'm willing to sit here and even talk to you, you know, and not going to ask you what questions you about to ask me cuz I can't it's like n we could talk about anything.
No, you've been amazing. Um, what's the best or the most memorable piece of advice that your mom and or fact your dad as well has given you that really Springs to mind that you carry with you and apply? My mom's thing is a 72-hour rule. I mean, um, my M it happened years and years and years ago when, you know, the first time I ever had like a it was like just when the culture the internet like blog gossip culture was happening, and they had like edited some picture of me and my cousin or something, and I was like, "Oh, this is it, like oh man, everyone's going to believe this, look at the edit, it's like CRA like some crazy," I forgot what it even was, but my mom said to me, she said, "You know what," she said, "you'll go to sleep tonight, you'll wake up and it'll still bother you, then you'll go to sleep again and you'll wake up and it'll bother you a little less, and then on the third day you'll wake up and someone else will have done something stupid enough that everyone will forget." Totally true. It's the two or three days again. Well, that's the 72-hour rule, right? And I always said, so I've learned to control my emotions for those first two or three days, and that's why I don't run to social media and start, you know, yapping about how I my my anger or my frustration. I let it sit, and it it always goes away, man. That's the most valuable piece of information for my mom. And then, man, the most valuable piece of information for my dad is probably I don't know, don't don't mix Virginia black and and vodka water together. CU right, creates no. I my dad my dad is just uh your dad is a subject of massive Fascination, right? He's a legend. You know, sometimes I I wonder who the Superstar is.
Well, what's your relationship like at 29 with your father, given that just from from from the basic amount of information we can Cobble together from your background, it sounds like it's been pretty rough, and there's been there's been redeeming moments throughout your life. It's a redeemed relationship in many respects, it feels like to me from an observational point of view. Yeah, I think I think um my father is a huge inspiration for me. I mean, I can never I like even my mother will tell you I would never be doing what I'm doing and probably in the fashion that I'm doing it without my mother's teaching of the English language and and my dad's natural gift for like Melody and and music. And so my dad is a huge inspiration to me from like that to just the way he like dresses and the way he like posts with women on Instagram prior to his I think he has he has a girlfriend now, but you know, before that, I mean, I was I was feeling like I was living some like lackluster life cuz my dad goes so hard. But uh Liv the Shad of yeah, man, I'm telling you he's the real star, and I've grown in just have an appreciation for the man that he is, you know. I mean, my friends have always seen it, right? And that's always the case like you you have this really cool dad, and everybody else thinks it's like super cool, but you crazy when you're a kid. Seriously. But yeah, you know, yeah, yeah, of course, and I've I've I've I've just grown to to love him for for who he is, man, and he is the mo one of the most entertaining human beings. I mean, if this interview lasts whatever it is, hour and a half, two hours, I'm sure you could sit for like six with him and he some stories that are unbelievable. But yeah, he's he's a great guy. I'm I'm I'm very blessed that um to have a perfect balance between uh between my my parents, you know, my mom my mother's taught me a lot about yeah, just being again being able to deal with all the stuff the way I do and the Poise that I can possess in in you know, certain situations where people would break down, and you know, my mother's the reason why I don't really like ever do drugs. I've never like I you know, I mean, of course, like you know, I'll drink and I'll you know, smoke or whatever, but I don't I've I've never I I don't really like that's never been my thing. I've always just kind of kept it like pure, you know, for my mom's sake, and then you know, and my dad is just where I get the swag. Well, I mean, yeah, whatever you want to call it, you know, what we were just talking about, you know, just I mean, just I'm not like you know, at the same time my mother yeah, you know, just that's that's my dad to the core, you know, it's just don't play.
Yeah, um, you know, you're in a position now where views from the Sixers coming out any second, you're obviously exceptionally proud of that record. Yeah, yeah, man, and there's a lot of touring to be done around it, as much as you can do given how busy you are. No, I'm going I'm going on I'm going on the real run, man. You're going hard. Yeah, I'm going to World Tour one L World Tour. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, t I'll make sure you get one. Thank you, man. Got to come through. You got to collect just the one. Yeah, exactly. You have multiple Lin different one night. It's not a world tour. No, no, no, world touristic got get the metal ones, man. Well, yeah, cuz you know, people go duplicate the laminant, so you got to try and get the new the nooo yeah, the noo. We might do the iPhone laminates this time. I don't know. iPhones I'm not getting those for freey. There he is. Damn. Um, so touring to be done starting with Summer 16, that's exciting. Yeah, um, you know, it's a it's a wide world out there. Mhm. And um I think it's easy when you're busy and you're prolific and you're creative to forget that that this that the world that we live in right now is is is tough. And what does the world look like to you at your age at this point in your life outside of your own world? What does the world look like to you and your place in it?
Um, I mean, I obviously spend a lot of time in my own world, um, but when I do uh take a look at the broader scope of things, uh, it's often with 40, you know, whether it be um, you know, whether it's issues in the world that obviously, you know, I mean, I have massive amount of prayers for everybody's well-being, and I think I I even though I don't necessarily directly literally address things in my music, I've always tried to make music that transcends, you know, gender, nationality, uh, to try and unify people, you know, because that's really what what it's about where we're from. I mean, we we're we're from this sort of like Mosaic of people that all get along. I've always kind of um been a part of that being from Toronto, so um I can you soak it up in different ways without necessarily reflecting it personally. And do you think that these from the six in some way should I perform as as an album for its time? Yeah, I I I think that it's uh I hope that it I hope that it brings joy to people's lives. I hope that it opens people's minds to new things. I hope that it uh you know, I've always had this dream of like a you know, a a new set of music that just creates this like Rhythm and you know, with what like what one dance was and just just bringing joy to people is pretty much my goal with this with this album. And then as far as the world and how it looks, I I I don't take too I don't take too much time my my world. I mean, my personal relationships and where I'm going to end up, I honestly I I I this is the first day that I've even had to think about it. You're getting old though, man. You're getting old. You're 30 this year. I know, but I still really enjoy I still I've been fous man, you're child to me. I still really enjoy being in this room. I still enjoy my my time on the road with my friends. Um, I don't look at like people in other situations with with Envy, you know. I I I'm I'm pretty happy where I'm at right now. I think I have a lot more work to do, and um you know, whatever way I can contribute to just like I said, bringing bringing some joy to people's lives in this world, I I pray that I could do that as many times as I can over and over uh through this platform that we have, and um yeah, I just it's that's what we got, man, you know, that's what we have to offer right there.
So you people are expecting you to go back to the screen. You going to go back? You going to do anything on camera? Yeah, yeah, I'm got I got some I got something nice coming up in May, you know. Yeah, I got something nice coming up in May, and then um and then yeah, I'd love to I'd love to go back to acting. I I feel like I uh spent a lot of my life honing that craft, and then we're just kind of like all right, cool. Yeah, so I'd like to go back to it. I mean, it's it's you know, big screen as well as like you'd be you'd be you'd be comfortable going into movies. Oh yeah, that's that's the goal definitely. Yeah, I just it movies is uh it's all about the right the right decisions and you know, um picking the right first project for you and second project crucial, right? I mean, that was like one of the most important things Jamie Fox ever told me was just like before you pick it, come and tell me because don't if you pick the wrong one, then you're forever labeled as this this type of so I you know, that's probably why I've yet to um I've yet to be decisive on it, but I think this album I put enough work in on this album where I'll be able to do a world tour and then just you know, I'm building a home right now in Toronto. Um, I'm excited for that to be done. I think that'll change my life a bit. You talk about kid walking down and going, "Let me take you to Drake's house." Exactly. Exactly. See if he's home. I hope so. I hope I could like land somebody, you know, like a whatever whatever they get out of it, whatever I used to get out of it. You don't want to wish that upon yourself. 50 kids outside. I'm like it's like like a drive-in or sitting out there looking at your house eating popcorn like this. I think that that that thing is going to just change my life a lot, having a home in Toronto. I've yet to accomplish that. And this is wow. That'll be the first time you really feel like you've laid down Roots here on that level.
Yeah, I mean, I've always had like a little condo apartment or something like that, but this will be like this is my this home is my life life's work really. So wow. Um, yeah, I'm really excited about that. And man, just uh that'll give you a chance to dive into some projects that require a little bit more stability, right? Because I mean, that's the thing, and then figuring out what's next in music. I mean, I don't plan on like taking some huge long break, you know. We're working like act we got a lot like a lot of I mean, I'm obviously kind of out there that I'm working on on top boy and doing other have my you know, working on these little things trying to just yeah, stay integrated all the most exciting things you possibly can. Well said. I should have I should have w I mean, dude, I mean, you know, you've got 2,000 square feet on the bray, you're doing something right. Yeah, it's true. It's true. You know, Fashion's not I mean, that's no chumps game. That is hard and expensive. Yeah, it is. And you know, thank you to everyone that's supported us and uh I mean, Oliver and and Nikki and everybody at OVO clothing that do an incredible job of just keeping us you know, keeping the people fed with new things to rep with. I mean, it's it's it's been great. I've always I've always talked to Oliver about like I don't want to wear anything else. I just want to wear our stuff, so it's amazing to be able to have it. Yeah, dude, that's the dream. I mean, I think if you can build something that that other people want to wear in their back, but you feel confident comfortable rocking it in a public environment too, then sweet. Exactly. Sus it. Well, listen, good luck tomorrow night. Thank you at point of broadcast. Thank you. Game. Yeah, I'm not talk about your album. I know. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, forget views. This is more about Raptors closing out. No, thank you, man. It was a it was an honor. And no, it's a total pleasure, man. I've been looking forward to it. I mean, I think that I know that there's a lot of ground to cover for fans and for yourself. You haven't done one of these for a long time. I hope you enjoyed it. I did. I did actually little deep in the middle there for a minute. No, it's all good. You you you you definitely uh you gave me peace of mind about interviews again, so thank you. I enjoy it. It's a pleasure. I'm not going to do any more, but this one was fun. Glad I'm glad you get end it on a high night. My God. Thank you so much. Thank you, man. These are world. Thank you.