You know you've made it when the chorus from your song is quoted on "SportsCenter." You know you've made it tenfold when you have a highly anticipated slot at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Drake has both, with "you fancy, huh?" permeating pop culture, and on Sunday, you'll see him team up on the big stage with Swizz Beatz and a very special guest, Mary J. Blige, for his debut VMA performance.
"All I remember is that VMAs in Vegas, in the hotel," Drake said Friday afternoon (September 10) in his dressing room at the Nokia Theatre. He had just finished rehearsing for a couple of hours. "I remember being at home ... seeing Tyga perform with Wayne, and I was like, 'Man, I gotta get my ball rolling. I gotta be there one day.' It's surreal, being on that stage."
And yes, Drizzy will be surrounded by several beautiful ladies and one lovely Queen. "Fancy" was originally slated to be a Mary record, before eventually making its way to Thank Me Later. Drake and the song's producer, Swizz Beatz, decided to keep her vocals on the hook of the song.
"Her vocals are what make it so sweet," Drake beamed of having MJB perform with him. "What's more classy, more fancy than Mary J. Blige? I'm not sure. She is the epitome of class, in my opinion. It's more of a real theater production than it is a performance. It's really a lot of acting."
If rehearsals are any indication, Drake's performance will be reminiscent of the up-to-date Sinatra cool in his VMA promo spot.
"I watched the Rat Pack live at the Copa Room," Drake recalled. "It was just so relaxed. They were smoking cigarettes and drinking Jack. It was women everywhere. It wasn't, 'Let's just rap and be epic and be huge.' They were like, 'I really run this. Me and Sammy and Dean.' I wanted to get up there and look fly."
Saturday, September 11, 2010 at 1:28PM
