HuffPost Entertainment is pleased to premiere the second section of Drake's sit-down with Elliott Wilson as part of CRWN. Presented by Myspace, the series sees executive producer Wilson chopping it up with some of hip-hop's biggest names. In this particular portion, which is available for viewing above, Drake gets extremely candid about working with Beyonce, his relationship with his mother and what she thought of a song that references her and his interactions with Jay Z. Noah "40" Shebib, the standout producer behind the main thrust of "Nothing Was the Same," Drake's just-released album, also makes an appearance.
"I got to do the crazy, like, Israel OVO fest," Drake said after telling a memorable story that involved comedian Jeffrey Ross, who was "in a hot tub floating ... just like long hair floating in the hot tub with like nine women at a party."
"It was a weird ass party. It was like a Miley Cyrus party," Drake continued. Wilson asked if Cyrus twerked, to which Drake answered, "I don't know, I was not watching."
Drake goes on to explain that the song "Too Much," which the rapper performed on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" after shouting out his family, really upset his mom. "Before I did that performance, I gave my mother an iPod with the album on it and told her to listen to that song. I had told her about it previously, but I told her to listen to it," Drake said. "Partly because I wanted to make sure she was comfortable with it." She was not pleased:
For the first time, my mom was very upset with me. She was upset because she felt like it warranted a personal conversation before I went and said that in a song. What I had to remind her of was that we had had that personal conversation many times over and I felt like it wasn't going anywhere. It was sitting on my chest so heavy that one night, when I had that second verse to finish, it just all... It was a huge release. I don't even think I've ever felt like that before. I wasn't even writing it down, and I'm not saying that to sound cool. I was just in the booth running in and out going line by line, because thoughts were going through my mind so fast.
You know, I've gotten hit up by girls before who feel like they've been mis-mentioned in a song and I don't do it out of malice. I don't try and exploit the people in my life. If you listen to my music, it's not like [that]... I don't out people. I do tell my story, though. And any girl that I mention, she loves it anyway. That being said, I gave that disclaimer on TV because I knew my mother would be watching. And since I chose to communicate that message to her publicly, I wanted to also communicate another message publicly, which was, "I love you. I love you with all of my heart, and I want the best for you. I didn't want to make the world think you're just some woman that's just hiding out, but at the end of the day, I want a lot more for my mother. She's 66 and that scares me, you know? I'm 26 years old. Life is not guaranteed. It does not last forever. I want her to start feeling better and get on a plane and go wherever she wants to go and see the world and come to the CRWNs and the first concerts, and she doesn't do that. She stays where she's at, and it does bother me. I gave that disclaimer because I felt partly guilty, and I wanted my mother to know how much I love her in front of the whole world.
The Toronto rapper also revealed how "Pound Cake," a "Nothing Was the Same" track that features Jay Z came together. Apparently the elder star's verses were already written for "Magna Carta Holy Grail," the album Hov released this year. Drake asked for the vocals and Jay relented, allowing Shebib to produce around the Drake. "For the first time in his career, I think, he sent me two verses a capella," Drake said. "He told me, 'I never do this.'"
In a surprisingly frank moment, Drake admitted that he really didn't like "Off That," his earlier song with Jay Z. "Let me talk about 'Off That' for a second," he said. "I wasn't supposed to be on that hook. If I knew I was going to be on that hook I would have said some things differently. I originally wrote that as a reference for somebody, and it ended up being on the album and at that time, who was going to say no?"
Drake shared that he actually heard "Magna Carta Holy Grail" while he was working on Beyonce's still unannounced album. "I was writing for Beyonce -- or working with Beyonce." he said. "I hate saying 'writing for' because you know, she's a phenomenal writer."
Another track the rapper dissected was "Hold On, We're Going Home":
I hear my dad or my mom reminisce on music and be like, "Man, that was my song." And I was just like, man, what are people going to say? What's going to be the song that you dance to at your wedding? There's a couple joints, but I couldn't thikn of that many. What are going to be those songs that age extremely well, that are timeless music? And then I started thinking like, "I want one of those!" 40 found this incredible group, Majid Jordan, and they're about to blow the world away. They had this little demo idea that was an incredible, sort of scratch vocals with that beat. I came up with "just hold on, we're going home" because I saw it somewhere and thought it would be a great hook... We did it one night.
For more, including how Drake feels about YMCMB, why rap media is mostly hot air and some updates on 40's health, watch the video above.