On the Friday before Valentine’s Day, as Drake was getting ready to coach Canada’s team to a victory over the United States in the N.B.A.’s celebrity All-Star Game in Toronto, his longtime musical partner Noah Shebib, known as 40, was in his studio not far away, prepping for another night of work on “Views From the 6,” the forthcoming Drake album scheduled to be released in April.

“I just make 50 ideas in one day,” Mr. Shebib said over the phone before the session. “As soon as one of those ideas gets his attention, we start heading that way.”

In a hip-hop world with fewer and fewer superstars, a new Drake album is a rare seismic event, and “Views” has been teased and anticipated for months. It will arrive after a year in which Drake became the genre’s most powerful artist, because of his persistence on the charts even without releasing a traditional album, and his skillful handling of his beef with Meek Mill, the first real assault on his dominance.

Image Noah Shebib, known as 40, Drake’s musical partner. Credit... Johnny Nunez/WireImage

“Views” will arrive in a world overpoweringly influenced by Drake: His softening of the lines between genres is ever-present, from the Weeknd to Bryson Tiller to even Sam Hunt. “For the first time you find yourself not being the young kid doing something different that no one understands,” Mr. Shebib said.