Drake‘s second album, Take Care, due October 24, is one of the most anticipated albums of the year. Rolling Stone caught up with Drake for an interview and a lot was said including how some of the tracks sound like, who got some feature spots and more.
“I hate singles,” Drake says. It’s a funny thing to hear from the rapper behind hits like “Best I Ever Had” and “Find Your Love,” but he says he’s always felt this way – now more than ever, as he puts the finishing touches on his second full-length LP, Take Care (due October 24th). “With this album, I want to tell a whole story,” he adds. “I don’t want people to just hear a piece and judge the album on that.”
Drake is home in Toronto, recording at his longtime producer Noah “40″ Shebib’s studio. The vibe is industrial yet cozy: exposed brick, low lighting, plenty of high-grade weed and virtually no decoration aside from a vinyl copy of U.K. dubstep crooner James Blake’s debut on a windowsill. “This is home,” says Drake, wearing a T-shirt, black jeans and work boots. “If I’m in a big expensive studio, it starts messing with my head about what kind of music I should be making.”
To a degree, that’s what happened with his 2010 debut, Thank Me Later, which sold 1.4 million copies and transformed Drake from mixtape phenom to platinum-certified star. “In no way am I not proud of it,” he says, “but I think I got caught up in making it seem big and first-album-ish. I was a bit numb, a bit disconnected from myself. I wasn’t able to slow down and realize what was going on around me.”
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