Drake tries not to offend women with his raps out of respect for his mother. The "Make Me Proud" rapper was raised largely by his mother by after she and his father split when he was young, and she taught him to always treat the opposite sex with utmost respect.

"My mother made me truly appreciate women. I obviously make sex-driven, darker, sexier music, but I try not to offend women. It's not in my character. And my father was basically a reverse-role model for me. I'm dying to be a great dad one day, whenever that day comes. Other than that, it was hard just growing up with my mom and watching her fight for me to have a good childhood. It was tough to watch."

The 25-year-old rapper claims his wordplay and musical approach have been greatly influenced by Kanye West and Outkast's Andre 3000, who he feels changed the boundaries of rap in the last decade:

"I think Kanye deserves a lot of credit and Andre 3000 deserves a lot of credit for the shift in what you have to be to be a rapper, and what your music has to sound like. Those guys made it OK for melody to be introduced. They made it OK to not necessarily be the most street dude. For me, I started to believe more in myself when I saw those two guys. I thought, 'I'm good at rapping, so if they just respect the talent and don't crucify you for what your past is or who you are, then I should be OK.'"

Drake's second album Take Care is out now.