On Thursday night, Beats 1 Radio is set to broadcast a special episode of OVO Sound Radio, featuring an interview with Drake by Zane Lowe. It's also been announced that he the full VIEWS album will be available at 12 a.m. (est).
You can listen to the show at 10:45 p.m. (est) on Beats 1. We will be continually updating this post with highlights from the event, so stay tuned.
The guests include Popcaan, Rihanna, Pimp C, Wizkid, PARTYNEXTDOOR, dvsn, and his Summer 16 tour mate Future.
"Thank you for the years you spent working with some of Toronto's true legends honing your craft. Thanks you for dropping everything to work with me after we met and realized we had something special."
Update (11:07 p.m.): Drake's VIEWS hit Apple Music and iTunes a bit earlier than expected.
Update (11:21): Drake explains his feelings on "the 6" as a phrase and the album title turning into a cultural moment.
"I think the announcement was more than just the album title it was a shift in the city—we saw an opening there. The name took on a life of its own. Now the city is obviously referred to as was it is."
Update (11:24 p.m.): Drake tells Zane that he was surprised that IYRTITL was such a success and that he always thought of it as a mixtape.
"I always looked at it like a bridge to where we are today."
Update (11:26 p.m.): Drake and Zane laugh about Taylor Swift's Apple Music commercial and Drake has nice words for Swift:
"She's just such a sweetheart. She's so angelic to me."
Update (11:28 p.m.): Drake teases that he has more new music to drop this summer:
"I got other songs I got this summer. By the time I get to the tour, I'm going to have a whole arsenal of songs that don't even have to do with VIEWS."
Update (11:32 p.m.): Drake reflects on the surprising success of "Hotline Bling:"
"Just kind of taking it for what it is. I recorded it in a hotel room in London. I remember my camera man Theo, we had a great classic conversation—I remember, he said, 'I didn't get it.' It's almost an emotion I search for, I don't want you to get it right away. If you're able to get it right away and say 'okay, I get it. That's a great song.' I don't want that."
[On the success of the music video] "It was a magical moment...I expected the reaction. I was praying for it!"
Update (11:36 p.m.): Drake explains that the album was inspired by the changing of the seasons in Toronto.
"The album is based around the change of the season in our city. It starts around in wintertime. Starts with "Keep The Family Close." Winter to summer and back to winter again. It's just to show you the two extreme moods that we have. We love our summers but we also make our winters work...You start to value your days a lot more when most people won't go outside type of thing...It creates a different person. I thought it was important to make the album here during the winter."
Update (11:45 p.m.): Drake explains why Jay Z's verse on "Pop Style" was so short:
[On why Kanye West and Jay Z's version of "Pop Style" wasn't used on the album] "I just ended up going with my version of the song."
"Jay didn't really do a verse. Really, 'Ye just sent it to me like that. Jay just did my first few lines for me...People want to hear Jay rap."
"I've expressed my admiration and respect for Jay countless times. Sometimes we just fall on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the rap world."
[On Kanye's pool] "He has a phenomenal pool. He has a phenomenal house. Don’t get it twisted."
Update (11:48 p.m.): Drake reveals that he and Kanye West were "supposed to do" a mixtape/album together.
"We'll just sit and collaborate. We have a few things...You never know, he'll call me tonight and say, 'I'm putting these two songs out tonight.' He's one of my favorite people period, in the world. I love 'Ye. He's a really good guy. I grew up with him as a role model. Always given him credit that's why we're here right now. It's amazing to be his friend...We can link each other and discuss anything. Feeling a way on this or just leisure talk, we have a great relationship. I hope we get more music out. We were supposed to do a mixtape together, an album together."
Update (11:51 p.m.): Drake on Rihanna: "We're not just forcing the story...we have genuine energy between us"
"It came to fruition after we did 'Work.' She just got in the studio and just bodied it. It was flawless victory. It was every nuance cadence...We do great music together. It's hard to do guy/girl collabs..."
[On their chemistry] "I think that's what makes the records better. We're not just forcing the story...we have genuine energy between us."
Update (12:01 a.m.): Drake on The Weeknd: "I'm proud of his success."
"At the end of the day, that's my guy. we're from the same city. we grew up with the same goal trying to do this. A lot of the time we spent trying to do this together. We spent real time. We put in real work together. I'm proud of his success. We both had our moments where we both felt a way and went a little left. I have nothing but love for everyone over there."
Update (12:06 a.m.): Drake reflects on infighting between members of Young Money and his relationship with Nicki Minaj:
"I'm just a person who is grateful for all the names you mentioned. It's tough to watch. I have a mutual respect for both guys and pray every day that it gets worked out, that we'll find an amicable place."
"I don't really talk to Nicki. [She's] another person I have a lot of love for, a lot of respect to her and the past and what we built. I understand what love is and I understand a personal situation. She dealt with me how I would expect her to—with class. I would do the same you know. There were times I was sitting there, waiting to see, you know, how deep is your love? I have respect for Nicki but unfortunately we haven't spoken."
Update (12:13 a.m.): Drake talks about a lesson he learned from his mom and how he feels about his dad's Instagram behavior.
[On his mom] "You'll go to sleep and it'll bother you and you'll go to sleep the next night and it'll still bother you a little and then the next day someone else will have done something stupider than you."
[On his dad] "I was feeling like I was living some lackluster life, cause my dad was going so hard...I’ve grown to just have an appreciation for the man that he is.”
Update (12:16 a.m.): Drake says he's interested in expanding his acting roles into movies.
"I'd love to go back to acting. I feel like I spent a lot of my life honing that craft."
