HILTON: I know that you helped discover Drake, and now he has become one of hip-hop’s biggest names. What potential did you see in him and what have you been able to impart to him from your own experiences?

WAYNE: When I first heard Drake, I already knew that he had potential beyond my imagination, because the kid was singing and rapping-and he was rapping real well. So that’s kind of an odd mixture-like, you don’t get somebody very often who is real good at this and real good at that. So that’s when I already knew that he was gonna blow up, right there. He would’ve done it-with me or not-I just wanted to make sure it was with me. And the main thing I’ve told him, or taught him, for lack of better words, is just to stay humble and remember who you are throughout it all, because there’s gonna be moments in every single day when you’ll have to go back to that person and reflect on that person. You have to self-reflect. If you forget who you actually are, then what’s the use of even looking in the mirror.

HILTON: When you’re writing lyrics, do you ever worry about being offensive, or that you’ll kind of have to, like, edit them?

WAYNE: No. That’s one thing about me, and I think that’s what most of my fans enjoy about me, that I don’t hold nothing back. I do exactly what I want to do, and say exactly what I want to say. Sometimes I consider the fact that I have a daughter, but I also think about the realities of the world, and just let her know that this is the reality and this world is crazy and there are people out there that are a certain kind of way. I mean, once I get through that hump, then, like I said, I just say what’s on my mind.

EHRLICH: What are some of the things that you do to bring yourself back to Earth and remember who you are? I’m assuming that your kids are part of that.

WAYNE: It’s my family and my friends, plain and simple. My family and my friends-they keep me grounded. Especially my mom, because she would kick my ass if I was to change. So, flat out, that’s what it is.

HILTON: I think it’s good when your family keeps you humble. I’ve seen so many people gain a certain level of celebrity and just turn into different people.

WAYNE: Yeah, I have as well.

HILTON: It was kind of a controversial move when you released the album Rebirth last year, because it was sort of a rock album. How did you feel about the response to the album?

WAYNE: Oh, I was actually overwhelmed by it because I was surprised that record sold so well. It still went gold. So I was actually overwhelmed that people even got it because, if you’d asked me before, I thought it wasn’t gonna do shit. I thought it was gonna sell about 200,000 copies at the most. I really didn’t get to promote it well because I had to take my little eight-month vacation, but other than that, I think if I would have had more time to promote it, then it would have done better than it did.