MTV

VIA: mtv.com

By Jayson Rodriguez

NEW YORK — Breakout rap star Drake appeared on "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien" on Friday, performing alongside Jamie Foxx. The "Best I Ever Had" MC premiered his guest verse on Foxx's track "Digital Girl."

In recent weeks, Drake — who is still unsigned — seems to be everywhere, performing at Hot 97's Summer Jam concert, flying to London to collaborate with Rihanna and now making his late-night-television debut next to an Oscar-winning actor.

 But the Lil Wayne protégé took everything in stride. Or, rather, with a bit of anxiety. Drake had just penned the verses to the remix less than 24 hours before he went before millions of TV viewers.

"The biggest challenge of that whole day, aside from being on 'Conan' and being nervous initially about that, was [trying to] remember the 24-bar verse I just recorded the night before," Drake told MTV News. "It was an all-around challenging day, but when I'm under pressure, I always seem to rise to the occasion in some form."

The rapper, who exploded with the release of his mixtape So Far Gone in February, said the appearance marked one of the best days of his life.

"My uncle saw it, my mother saw it, everyone in my family and in my circle was so excited," he said. "It was something I'll never forget. I don't think an unsigned artist has ever had the chance to perform in that arena."

Next up for Drake is finishing a video for his hit "Best I Ever Had." The rapper was in New York over the weekend filming the video with Kanye West. West inspired the clip, according to Drake, and eventually took the reins as director of the shoot. Also, Drizzy will join Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy on their America's Most Wanted Music Festival, which kicks off July 27 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. 

Fire Starter: Bound To Blow

Damn rightit's Drake. We had to have Drizzy relaunch Fire Starter — the Canadian is bakin'. He's a walking craze, and his acclaim is only getting bigger.

 You gotta love how it's happening organically too. No label is force-feeding him down our throats — he's not even signed to a major yet (although that could change at any moment). The Young Money soldier is paving his own way with great music and word of mouth. He just might have leap-frogged most of his peers who have been hyped longer and stronger than he has.

Drake had a good buzz going for himself after he dropped the mixtape So Far Gone back in February. But then the "Degrassi: The Next Generation" star-turned-Young Money MC took it up a notch (or three) by taking New York by storm last month. He popped up seemingly everywhere, from radio interviews with all the big-dog DJs to live shows throughout the city.

A recent video of the Canadian rapper on Funkmaster Flex's Hot 97 program shows Drake reading rhymes from his BlackBerry during a live freestyle. Commenters on Cipha Sound's YouTube page where the video first popped up, cried foul, calling Drizzy a fraud for spitting verses from his phone. But the lyricist told Mixtape Daily he's a proud writer and that more rappers should think about putting their words together more carefully.

"It shouldn't be your tagline: 'I don't even write.' Well, if it's not quality product, who cares? We can tell," Drake said. "Maybe if you took the time to write, your sh-- would be a little better. ... Sometimes I feel like people almost pride themselves on [not writing] and kind of look at me funny when I pull my phone out and start writing, like, 'You write? What?' But to each their own. You gotta do what works for you. It's a creative process. ... I'll pull my phone out in front of anybody and start writing. And say, 'Yo, I gotta go and check this Web site [for research],' because I know when I come with that verse, you're gonna be like, 'Oh, OK, that's why it took two hours and you needed the wireless Internet hooked up.' It's just about quality and taking pride in yourself and having an ear. A lot of artists don't even know when they sound wrong or off. They're like, 'Yeah, that sounds the same as that hit I have on the radio.' If you don't know when something is wrong, you're not gonna be one of the greats. Might be cool for a minute, but ... "

Drake is still basking in the snowballing success of So Far Gone, touring and getting calls from people such as Queen Latifah and Cool & Dre for collaborations. His debut, Thank Me Later, is still in the cooker, but before any official singles drop, Drizzy has a few treats in store for his growing fanbase. Expect some big-name collabos to hit the Net soon.

"Me and Kid Cudi were  talking at the [mtvU] Spring Break, just about so many people asking me 'When's that Cudi record coming? You and Cudi?' Me and Cudi gonna make it work," Drake promised. "Other than that, I got a song with 'Ye and Wayne. I got a song: me, Wayne and Jeezy. I got some stuff coming to just keep the people entertained until that album hits the shelves, and hopefully my work on So Far Gone will allow me to at least break into the industry in an impressive way." However, Drake declined to provide details on his forthcoming collaborations.