To many he came out of nowhere with one of the hottest songs of the summer “Best I Ever Had” but ask Drake, he’s been around way longer that we think. He’s only been on our radar for a few months, yet we’ve seen him grow from a Canadian rapper to potential worldwide musical mammoth. His raps are Fabo-meets-Bow Wow, a radio-flow to say the least. Plus, the The auto tune savvy Toronto native’s got a vocal range like Tony Sunshine and a lyrical cascade of style that mimmicks his homie slash young money label buddy Lil’ Wayne.

With all the accolades he’s raked in from the mixtape, has Drizzy ever had second thoughts about giving the tape out for free instead of selling it?

“I think that’s what we’re working on right now,” he said. ” ‘Best I Ever Had’ is doing amazing on iTunes. But [the mixtape] was an important moment for me. So no, I don’t ever look at it and say, ‘I wish that was an album.’ It was important that it was a mixtape, ’cause if it was an album, I don’t know if it would’ve had the same impact. I think the fact that I gave that for free, it was kind of brazen, like, ‘What? What do you have in your collection, in your catalog, to be able to throw this out there?’ And just while we were creating it, it was all of us, you know? Me, 40, Oliver and everyone else involved. It was us, just having fun in a stress-free environment, because we knew we were going to give it away. So I am hoping to bring that same energy to the album. It’s harder, because you know that it’s your album. You know people have to go buy it and they have to support it or else you’re not going to live up to the expectations, but hopefully we can channel that same energy into this project.”

What can we say about So Far Gone that hasn’t already been written in this very section? The mixtape was artistically dope and had out-of-control buzz, and we are stamping it as the mixtape of 2009 so far based on the impact and quality. Let the debates begin, but you’ll have a difficult time saying what other tape reached the ‘hood, the ‘burbs and the industry. A universal thumbs-up. Let’s hope the album lives up to the hype.