Drake recently talked about how he writes his hit R&B songs, comparing the process to that of Jay-Z and Lil Wayne. Like the two rappers, Drake says he doesn’t write down his lyrics. “With R&B, I know my sound. I know I make records to f*ck to,” he explained. ”The way Jay and Wayne write rap, I write R&B. I don’t write lyrics down on paper. The other day, I was in the studio with Alicia Keys, and I wrote two songs just speaking to her. I wish I could write that way for rap. With my rap songs, there’s so much of me I have to give that I don’t know if I could ever just flow. The thing is, I’m a great rapper. There’s two elements to rap: having the thoughts, and then being a great rapper. I can really rap the sh*t that I write. My tone, my inflection. When I listen to myself on records, I don’t feel like I don’t belong there. When I listen to ‘Forever,’ with three of my heroes, I fit right in.” Drake went on to talk about where he think’s he is at right now. “I’m at the starting line. Those guys are at home, putting on their tracksuits, getting ready to make their attack. When J. Cole gets it super-right, I think he’s gonna have a place as a Nas-type character who really stands for hip-hop, but still makes ill records that everybody fucks with.”
