Drake is determined to make an impact with his ‘Take Care’ album. The rapper sat down with Entertainment Weekly to participate in a detailed discussion about the project, which is preceded by the lead single ‘Headlines’ and features contributions from none other than the legendary Stevie Wonder.

Drake also discussed the influence that Jay-Z and Kanye West’s ‘Watch The Throne’ LP has already had on Hip-Hop culture and his drive to speak for this generation. ‘Take Care’ will hit stores on October 24th but until then you could Drake’s interview with Entertainment Weekly below:

In what ways are you challenging yourself this album?
I push myself in a lot of aspects when I write a song. I write a piece and where most people would stop and say “Oh, that’s the hook right there,” I’ll move that to the first four bars of the verse and do a new hook. That makes the song easy to learn and catchy. That’s how I like to challenge myself. I’ll write something and everyone that’s around might be like “Oh that’s that hook right there.” And then I’ll write something better than that.

How many tracks are you shooting for here?
Obviously, I can only fit so many songs on a CD. So what I’m doing is there will be a Take Care physical edition in stores that’ll hopefully have 15 to 17 songs on it. Then I know a lot of people do deluxe editions. But since October 24 is a special day for me, I got, like, a Take Care birthday edition that I’m going to put on iTunes that will have extra songs.

I really want to encourage people to be excited about the album releasing. I remember how excited a lot of artists used to make me. I used to want to buy the physical copy to see the artwork. And if there were any bonus tracks, I’d go find them. I’m definitely trying to cause some of that excitement. I hope people go get the songs off the birthday edition. It’s going to be great, man. I’ve got a wide array of music this time. I’m very excited.

What do you think of how Jay-Z and Kanye West released Watch the Throne? They did a couple of exclusive sessions. I went to the first one. And they kept the album from leaking by going straight to iTunes.
With Jay and with Watch the Throne, I’m so glad that it came out. As artists, we all need extra motivation. And I feel like in these last 30 days, that album is going to make me go 10 times harder from just, you know, hearing all the bars and all the sounds.

Have you thought of adopting their release approach?
I think with the Jay and ‘Ye thing, that was their approach—releasing it exclusively to digital, and doing the listening parties, and getting everybody involved and excited. I think that it was a brilliant approach. Do I necessarily think that Jay or ‘Ye would do that for a solo project? No. Do I think that Jay would release exclusively to digital and, like, play all of his music off a solo album to be dissected by critics? No. I’ve discussed doing projects with is obviously Lil Wayne. And one of the people of the people I enjoy rapping with most in this business is Rozay [Rick Ross]. Me and him have talked about potentially doing something after our albums comes out. I just love making songs with him. Every time we make a song it just seems to be something I love listening to after the fact when I’m in my car.

I know you can’t confirm producers and features yet since the album isn’t done. But I have read that Stevie Wonder’s a role on the album as a writer. Am I right?
Less writing and more music. The only person I really wrote with is Abel. We have a bond with words. Getting the right words is like a euphoric feeling. There are a lot of records that we collaborated on. With Stevie it was a musical thing. I had a song that’s very powerful, it’s called “Doing It Wrong,” and Stevie boosted it to another level. 40 produced it, but Stevie has a solo on it that he plays. It’s a great piece of music.

Specifically, what did he bring to the record?
He brought life to it. I was only trying to use extremely strong R&B songs on this album if I’m going to use R&B at all. Before I’d have scattered interludes and songs where I’m experimenting with things. Here I wanted to get back to “Brand New,” “Bria’s Interlude” days. It’s going to be really tight writing and s— that’s sexy as f—. That’s my thing. I’m going to do the type of R&B I’m good at. With Stevie it’s hard for me to explain. It’s an incredible thing I witnessed that night. He heard a song that he saw some potential in and he added some key pieces that made it come to life.

I’ve never played a song for people and they’ve cried and gone into their own private zone in their mind where they’re really thinking about some situations that hit home. And this song has done that for me. I’ve never seen that before. I’ve heard stories where it’s like “So and so cried when they heard this.” And I’d be like, “Yeah, okay, cool.” [Laughs] But I’ve seen people tear up listening to this song that me and Stevie did. Other than that, I just played him music for approval. That’s always reassuring, to be able to play Stevie Wonder music and have him say that it’s incredible. I think me and Stevie immediately formed a relationship where he wants to see me do well. He’s expressed to me adamantly that he wants to see me succeed. He wants to see me on the moon. It’s boosted my confidence.

That should be the tag of the album: “Stevie liked it.”
[Laughs] I mean, he heard a few things. I leave it to guys like you to approve the rap stuff. But from a singing and melody standpoint, he was proud of what 40 and me had crafted at that time. When he came to the studio to do his parts on “Doing It Wrong,” a few hours after, I made “Marvin’s Room.” It’s a great story, this album is.

Thank Me Later had quite a bit of features on it. Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Jay, Jeezy, Wayne, Nicki, The-Dream, T.I…. Think you’re going to relax on the guest appearances this time?
Yeah, I was in my mind, I think, as it is for every kid that this happens to, to do a that dream album where you kind of want to flex a little bit of muscle. The best way I can put it, I guess, is that like at OVO Fest, although it should be my most nerve-racking show because it’s 18,000 people sold out in my hometown, there’s a calm that comes over me because I know have this roster of special guests. I know that you’re about to see Wayne, Stevie, Jay, Eminem, you know? It’s a calming feeling when you know you’ve got some cards to pull. And I think that was the deal with Thank Me Later. It was my first album. It was a bit rushed. And I think I found solitude in having features from people I love. It was a heavy feature album. And this album is the complete opposite.

People always give you a hard time because, in a way, you frequently sound sorry about being rich and famous. Content-wise, what can we expect from Take Care?
With this record, I knew I couldn’t talk about “Oh, I miss my old friends.” On Thank Me Later I said something like “I wish wasn’t famous. I wish I was still in school.” At that time that was really how I felt. But when I listen back to it… I’m more confident now. I just got my mother into a nice apartment. And she just got surgery and she’s healthy. And my friends all have money and they’re getting their own places. I can’t do another album about wanting to go backwards. If I do that, people are going to be like, “Man, f— you! Tell me what’s real. Tell me what’s good about this s—. Make me want to chase this. Let me know the ups and downs of this shit for real. Don’t tell you about what you miss.” That’s why I came back [to Toronto], so I couldn’t say, “I miss Toronto.”  I have one song that’s sort of about that, but this album isn’t about missing anything.

This album is about living it and owning it and letting you know exactly what I go through. It’s not Drake on So Far Gone and it’s not Drake on Thank Me Later. I can’t go back to the old me. It’s impossible. I’m proud of who I’ve evolved into, for sure.

As a listener, I can tell you’ve grown a lot as a rapper. Have you made the same realization? I’ve heard you say that you really want to step it up on this album.
The other day me and 40 found a box of So Far Gone CDs—like actual CDs that we gave out around the city when I dropped the mixtape. That night I drove home listening to it and it hit me right there. As well put together and different as it was, it hit me that “You can rap better than this now.” It was like I told myself, “Congratulations, you can spit better than this now.” But it’s hard for me to pat myself on the back. My arms don’t reach that far. I can’t really get a good pat. [Laughs] I’m pushing myself. I’m 24 and there are a lot of eyes on me, a lot of pressure on me. And I just want to be someone they remember. I want to speak for this generation.

You’ve leaked a few “singles” this summer. What of the bunch is actually on Take Care?
“Headlines” and “Marvin’s Room” are on the album. But “Dreams Money Can Buy” and “Trust Issues,” those joints are on that birthday edition. That birthday edition might be a stupid amount of songs. I’m just forewarning everybody. [Laughs] I want to service people a lot of music to get you through fall, winter, spring, and into the next summer.

I want this music to last. That’s not to say I won’t be working on new things. But I just want to create something that has a long shelf life than the average album these days.

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