As New York City rushes by, sounds from subway tracks emerge, the sun finds its way through neighboring brick buildings, and nonstop pedestrian traffic fills the streets. We find Drake on the corner of West Broadway and Prince calmly smoking a cigarette and absorbing that which is his life. With an intense concentration on all that surrounds him you can instantly understand the motivation and influence that such a city has placed on his personality and music. Listen to a few tracks and you live this sunny day in Soho, you feel the beautifully calming breeze while accepting the grittiness that awaits you at every corner.

Drake will greet you with a friendly smile allowing you to feel right at home, in his world, where a question is answered by a raw 808 drum hit matched with lo-fi grimy bass samples and driving organ solos. To speak ruins any moment you have to enjoy this, one can see the scenario already musically tracked throughout the sequencer in his mind. Distraction is the murderer of creation.

Those that know Drake well can tell you about his musical influences, his travels around the world, or where he started. Getting it out of him directly is sometimes a more difficult task. His years of sonic seclusion, hidden by AKAs (Kid Lucci, Dr. Chaos, DJJD, the list goes on and on) make us wonder whether the person we set out to meet is actually him or a carefully planned impostor. His disguise as a full band once got him nominated as one of NYC’s best unsigned bands by none other than Tommy Hilfiger.

As co-founder of NYC’s Dope Lotus crew, Drake has been creating beautifully neck-snapping beats since he can remember, and continues to transform his daily experiences into life soundtracks. His move to NYC in 1999, living everywhere from San Francisco to New Jersey, showed him the beautiful decay of today’s daily life and the power to transform that experience into his own creation. From first listen one can pinpoint influences from underground hip hop moguls such as the Def Jux Family mixed with Portishead, Nightmares on Wax, Wu-tang, and Daft Punk.

A day spent with Drake reveals an understanding and appreciation for his upcoming release on Sound Records, you can almost hear the record as he leads us through the hustle of downtown juxtaposed with the calmness of Battery Park and Hudson River. Cant comprehend? We suggest you pick up the record, throw on your headphones and take a walk throughout your neighborhood, you will then truly experience the life and music of Drake.