It’s a long way from mixtape infamy to the cover of GQ magazine. But Drake has successfully made that transition, and in the 2010 “Men of the Year” issue of the venerable men’s mag, Drizzy models some high-end Burberry and Billy Reid duds while dropping a bit of news about his next move.
Among the biggest revelations is that he’s decided to call his next album Take Care. Due next spring, Drake promised his second effort will be packed with more inescapable hits like “Best I Ever Had.”
“Don’t think for a second I can’t do better,” he told the magazine. “For Take Care, I’m trying to find a way to make my raps shorter but catchier. I’m trying to condense my thoughts down to 16 bars. And it’s coming out more potent.”
He also explained that after the mega-hype created by his smash 2009 mixtape So Far Gone, he decided to call his major label debut Thank Me Later as a way to preemptively deflate the anticipatory hype he knew he couldn’t live up to.
Among the other revelations the 23-year old Canadian MC coughs up is the story of how way back in May 2009, when he “wasn’t even really Drake yet,” he was robbed at double gunpoint while on a date with a girl in his hometown of Toronto. Just back from a tour, Drake said, “I knew it was a setup, because I had on a sweater and a jacket … but when they banged on the car window with a gun and opened the door, the first thing he said was, ‘Yo, run that chain.’ They didn’t rob her, and her purse was sitting right there. So I was like, ‘OK, yup — you set the whole thing up.’ ”
After being relieved of $4,000 in U.S. currency and a chain that new mentor Lil Wayne had just given him, Drake said he learned a valuable lesson. From then on, he vowed to steer clear of the negative energy that can sometimes surround the rap world. Once his career began to take off a month later, he was prepared to handle it.
And while fans will have to wait a while to hear those smart-bomb tracks from Take Care, they can slake their thirst with new Drizzy courtesy of Young Money cohort Nicki Minaj, whose debut, Pink Friday, leaked online on Wednesday (November 17). The pair team up for the tune “Moment 4 Life,” in which Drake teases the couple’s fake Twitter marriage, rapping, “F— it, me and Nicki getting married today/ And all you bitches hating can catch the bouquet.”