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"We're Getting Very, Very Close": 40 Discusses 'Views From the 6' and Weed in a New Interview

Drake's right-hand man smokes with B-Real, gives his props to Canada's new prime minister Justin Trudeau, and explains how he's inspired by The Smiths.

Drake has been pretty quiet on his upcoming album Views From the 6although his recent track "Summer Sixteen" suggested he had fighting words ready for anyone with doubts—there's no doubt it's on the way. Frequent collaborator Boi-1da recently shared some barebones facts with us, and now Drake's go-to producer and right hand man, Noah "40" Shebib, has a couple quick words on the album in a new interview on B-Real of Cypress Hill's show The Smokebox (which, as the name implies, is an interview that involves hotboxing a car).

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"We're getting very very close," 40 says, cryptically. He adds, "For us it's just a balance of finding that space to make such a project that's based around our city and then coming out here to the West Coast to escape some of the harsh winter and find a good creative space… so it'll be a balance of like both those locations."

OK, so it's not much. But the rest of the interview is a rare look into the mind of one of the most important and influential producers of the last decade. He discusses his influences, explaining that he really got interested in making beats in the mid-90s and that "it was [DJ] Premiere that made me want to make beats." He also talks about listening to music that sounds nothing like what he makes for inspiration. It's a category that, unsurprisingly, includes proto-Drake sadsacks The Smiths. LOLOL.

The interview goes on to touch on Kobe's retirement, Toronto basketball, and medical marijuana, which gives 40 an opening to discuss Justin Trudeau's election and shit on Canada's previous, conservative government. It also prompts him to open up a bit about his MS, which is one of the main things medical marijuana is used to treat. He explains that MS drugs are very hard on the body and that doctors typically prescribe around ten different drugs to treat the side effects—side effects that are all more or less tempered by marijuana. Then things get really technical about weed strains, and you can tell 40 is getting pretty stoned, which: Hell yeah! Weed! More like Toke Care, am I right?

All in all, it's a pretty cool, laid-back interview with one of the biggest semi-behind-the-scenes figures in music. Check it out below:

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