Drake covers the new issue of Fader to discuss his new album, Views From the 6. This Fader interview also serves as a much-deserved victory lap after Drake ended up dominating the summer gossip cycle with his beef with Meek Mill. For what it’s worth, Meek Mill started that sh-t. And Drake ended it and became an even bigger star in the process. Drake chats about the Meek Mill beef, vulnerability, collaboration and more with Fader – you can read the full piece here. Some highlights:

He recently started driving again: “I’ve been deprived of driving for a long time. Riding to the studio with a driver and security and stuff, you lose something. That ride was my favorite thing in the world, you know? And before that ride, it wasn’t going to the studio, it was going to my girl’s house, or going wherever. Driving was just one of the most pivotal things in my writing life… Sometimes those drives are heavy, man, depending on what happened where you came from and what’s about to happen where you’re going.”

He really is trying: “I mean, I’m really trying. It’s not like I’m just sitting here, just f–kin’ shooting with my eyes closed. Like, I’m trying. I’m really trying to make music for your life.”

He’s listening: “Like, I get everything. I know everything. I know everything that’s being said about you. I know everything that’s being said about me. I’m very in tune with this life. Much like, I assume, most of my listeners are.”

The Meek Mill beef: “Given the circumstances, it felt right to just remind people what it is that I do, in case your opinions were wavering at any point.”

He couldn’t believe how slow Meek Mill was in responding: “This is a discussion about music, and no one’s putting forth any music? You guys are gonna leave this for me to do? This is how you want to play it? You guys didn’t think this through at all—nobody? You guys have high-ranking members watching over you. Nobody told you that this was a bad idea, to engage in this and not have something? You’re gonna engage in a conversation about writing music, and delivering music, with me? And not have anything to put forth on the table? It was weighing heavy on me. I didn’t get it. I didn’t get how there was no strategy on the opposite end. I just didn’t understand. I didn’t understand it because that’s just not how we operate. I was like, ‘I’m gonna probably just finish this.’ And I know how I have to finish it. This has to literally become the song that people want to hear every single night, and it’s gonna be tough to exist during this summer when everybody wants to hear [this] song that isn’t necessarily in your favor.”

Meek Mill’s claims that Drake doesn’t write his own stuff: “If I have to be the vessel for this conversation to be brought up—you know, God forbid we start talking about writing and references and who takes what from where—I’m OK with it being me… It’s just, music at times can be a collaborative process, you know? Who came up with this, who came up with that—for me, it’s like, I know that it takes me to execute every single thing that I’ve done up until this point. And I’m not ashamed.”

He’s not ashamed of his vulnerability: “It’s never about toughening up. I don’t even know if that’s, like, cool, being tough and sh-t. Not being vulnerable is never gonna be my thing. I’m always going to share with you what’s going on in my life. Vulnerability, to me, sometimes comes in the form of being naïve about where I am in the pecking order of all this. So I think I realize where I’m at now. And I think I realize that I’m gonna have to be OK with not having that many friends that are peers.”

[From The Fader]

I kind of love that Drake owns his vulnerability and he’s engaged with his fandom too. His fans are ride-or-die, and Drake wants them to know that he hears them. As for the Meek Mill drama… it’s just funny. Meek Mill started some sh-t and couldn’t finish it. So the vulnerable Degrassi guy put it down and destroyed him. Love it.

Photos courtesy of Fader.