Rap star Drake has revealed that US tennis icon Serena Williams provided the inspiration for his 2015 ‘Back to Back’ track, adding that the 23-time Grand Slam winner was a ‘battery’ that fueled him.
Speaking on the ‘Rap Radar Podcast’, the 33-year-old said Williams motivated him to finish the song - which was subsequently nominated for a Grammy Award.
The Canadian rapper explained that he and Williams were discussing her long-standing rivalry with Russian superstar Maria Sharapova when the tennis legend told him to ‘finish’ the track and make it something the listeners can’t ignore.
“I was with Serena at that time and we’d been talking about her and Sharapova going back and forth all those years,” Drake said.
“And she made this comment to me and she said ‘Well look, if you gonna go again, you got to finish it.’”
“She kinda put this battery on my back,” he added.
After being released the song proved a huge success, being nominated for Best Rap Performance at the 58th Grammy Awards. It was also included into the Billboard Top 100.