Drake's official artwork for Nothing Was The Same caused quite a stir when it was revealed last week. The cover instantly spawned its share of memes, and had a lot of people talking about the meaning behind the striking images. In an interview with MTV, Drake took some time to explain the inspiration behind the vibrant imagery of the album.
"When you go to the store, you'll see the full painting," said Drizzy, revealing that the art is actually "an oil painting by Kadir Nelson."
From what the rapper has said of the packaging, it seems as though the two images will serve as the front and back cover of the album, and will be placed facing one another in stores. "When it's positioned on the shelf at whatever store you go to, if they do it as I've asked, you'll see that it's a child version of myself staring at myself now," said Drake.
The OVO emcee said that the cover is a representation of the story he's been trying to tell for some time now, but has only been fully realized on his new album.
"Sometimes when I try and think back through this journey it's hard to pinpoint all these moments," he said. "On past albums when I've been trying to tell the story, I've got there but maybe not got there all the way."
The rapper explained that it was important to provide an image of both his past and his present, as he will pull from both on NWTS. "This is my most clear, concise thoughts from now, and my best recollection of then," he said of the album.
Drake expressed that he wanted to provide his fans with artwork that was special. "I wanted to give people something that people will be like 'I'll never forget this'," he said. "There's something about it that captures you, and I think that's kind of how this album sounds."
Watch the full interview below.