Drake talks Degrassi departure, movie dreams and Toronto romances

The Grammy-winning Canadian rapper and former cast member of the hit teen TV soapspoke about a range of topics in a new interview with W magazine published Friday.

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"That was part of the reason I was kicked off the show," Drake told W writer Lynn Hirschberg.

"Back then, I'd spend a full day on set and then go to the studio to make music until 4 or 5 a.m. I'd sleep in my dressing room and then be in front of the cameras again by 9 a.m. Eventually, they realized I was juggling two professions and told me I had to choose...I chose this life."

With a Grammy Award, five consecutive albums that debuted at atop the music charts and massive record sales under his belt, he apparently made the right choice but that doesn't mean he doesn't still hanker to act.

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"Most people I know stay in Toronto. I plan to spend the rest of my life there. The talk, the smell, the sound that comes out of that city is home to me," he told the magazine from Los Angeles, where he was working on his forthcoming album Views From the 6.