“My mama was my manager, my uncle was my agent / Dr. Dre’ll send a n***a home, that took patience,” he rapped on the cut.

Fans are still unpacking new details from Drake’s recently released album, For All The Dogs, whether it’s lyrical nods or production nuances. A couple of bars on the album that seem like any other come-up story, though, actually have a lot of context. The reference in question appears on the project’s penultimate cut, “Away From Home,” and is about Drizzy’s time writing for Dr. Dre. “My life like ‘The Matrix’ / Even got on 106 & Park with ‘Replacement,'” he rapped on the cut. “My mama was my manager, my uncle was my agent / Dr. Dre’ll send a n***a home, that took patience.”

While this might seem like an innocuous reference, the deeper history behind this connection relates to a 2016 interview. In it, Drake spoke to author John Seabrook, who had published a book titled The Song Machine: Inside The Hit Factory. Furthermore, their conversation covered a breadth of topics, but centered around the Toronto titan’s time being a songwriter for the legendary Californian. Apparently, these sessions date back to when he was about 19 years old, so around 2005. As such, this is a fascinating insight into the 36-year-old’s early career phases.

Drake’s “Away From Home”: Stream

“It was some of the most strenuous, militant s**t I’ve ever done,” Drake told Seabrook of his experience writing for Dr. Dre. “But no useable songs came out of it. When I think of how he worked us, it’s no wonder he didn’t get anything out of it. It was just writers in a room churning out product all day long.” With that context in mind, it’s understandable why he would say that the process “took patience.” It’s a bit of a negative picture of the process, but it’s not like the Beats businessman has been shy about his difficult creative process and its shifts in the past.

Meanwhile, there are a whole lot of writers that contributed to For All The Dogs, excluding its features. If anyone knows how stressful and difficult the process of writing a hit can be these days, it’s Aubrey Graham. Hard work in that department clearly pays off, though, and it’s at the core of artistry everywhere. For more news and the latest updates on Drake and Dr. Dre, come back to HNHH.