As a lead-up to the premiere of his fourth album, Views, Drake spoke to Beats 1 DJ Zane Lowe for more than an hour on Thursday night (Apr. 28). He revealed that he and Kanye West were "supposed to do a mixtape together," adding that they might still bust it out. He said he got inspiration to push his vocal performance from Alabama Shakes' "Gimme All Your Love" (!!!!) and Stevie Wonder's "All I Do." 

He said he's down with Taylor Swift, saying, "She’s just such a sweetheart for doing that [hella memeable "Jumpman"-soundtracked commercial] and just in general. She’s angelic to me, man.”

Listen to Drake's Zane Lowe interview here:

Drizzy also gave a less fun update: he and Nicki Minaj, once again, haven't been speaking. Here's the word on Meek Mill's better half:

"I don’t really talk to Nicki. Another person I have a lot of love for, a lot of respect to her and the past and what we built. I understand what love is and I understand her personal situation. She dealt with me how I would expect her to, which was with class. I could do the same, you know? There were points in time when I was sitting there, waiting, like, how deep is your love, you know? But I always have respect for Nicki, but unfortunately we haven't spoken."

Back on "Tuscan Leather," the opener to 2013's Nothing Was the Same, Drake confided, "Not even talkin' to Nicki / Communication is breakin' / I dropped the ball on some personal shit, I need to embrace it." Then they did Nicki gave him a reconciliatory lap dance in the "Anaconda" video, they did The Pinkprint's "Only" and "Truffle Butter" together, and everything seemed good.

But when your man and your label-mate/hip-hop peer get into an internationally infamous, deeply personal beef, maybe you've gotta pick a side and embrace it.

Watch an episode of our digital miniseries The Drake Effect, where Kendrick Lamar and more explain the power of the Drizzy cosign: