Drake: Working With Stevie Wonder Was ‘Flattering and Very Surreal’
He may look forlorn on the cover of his new album, Take Care, but it’s actually pretty good to be Drake right now. After celebrating Take Care‘s release in New York on Tuesday, the 25-year-old R&B star was the special guest performer, along with Maroon 5, Busta Rhymes, and others, at a Google Music/T-Mobile launch party for the new Google Music service in Los Angeles. The common demoninator at both? “New York to L.A., the consistent theme is attractive women, so I can’t complain,” he told Rolling Stone backstage at the Google event.
Of course, when you’ve had the kind of success Drake’s had – his new album is projected to sell over 700,000 copies in its first week – there are going to be some haters. Take the Ludacris dis track that just surfaced, and is reported to take aim at Drake and Big Sean. Without mentioning any names, Drake makes it clear that he isn’t worried about his detractors. “I would liken myself to [NBA star] Kevin Durant just based off the fact I think Kevin Durant is somebody who people want him so bad to fall or mess up, but he just consistently delivers,” Drake said. “Every night and all these games he’s playing now, even with the lockout, he just consistently delivers the same highlights, the same amount of points.”
Drake certainly delivered, doing a 30-minute set at midnight that brought out the likes of Miley Cyrus, tennis star Serena Williams and many more celebs. For Drake, though, being part of the event was a chance to tie in with Google. “Google is something pivotal in my generation, as far as having a data base of knowledge at your fingertips. And I’ll never forget the first time I logged onto a computer, what it meant to me and how mind blowing it was. So to be part of something as historic as Google starting anything to do with music I think is great,” he said.
Working with artists like Stevie Wonder has also had a huge influence on him. “Stevie Wonder even talking to me at first was obviously one of the most surreal things in the world,” he said. (The pair teamed up on a track called “Doing It Wrong” on the new album.) “Then being willing to make music with me, it’s very, very flattering, very surreal. And he’s such a great guy. When you really get around him, just the life that he emits – it’s energizing.”
The same can be said for another great artist he spent time with. “I sat for a long time on this album with Erykah Badu, more just vibing out,” he said. “We weren’t sure if we were gonna necessarily do a song for the album. It was more just two musicians in a room that love music. We were just playing music, talking about music and hearing her, watching her listen to things, I really get to take away a lot of different tactics from different musicians.”
And he is utilizing all of those opportunities for his own success. “It’s always inspiring to be around people and see their creative process and see how driven they are,” he says. “Getting to actually sit with studio guys like Jamie xx or Stevie or Erykah Badu is very enlightening for me.”
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