Drake Pays Tribute to J Dilla and Al Green

Drake is reaping the benefits of having a Billboard-topping album with his debut effort 'Thank Me Later.' On June 22, the much-buzzed about artist performed at a surely lucrative corporate event for Microsoft Bing, running through a series of bangers from his new album and a few surprising covers that included a J Dilla verse from Slum Village's 'Climax' and Al Green's soulful classic 'Let's Stay Together.'

Drake's Dilla tribute came in the middle of his Kanye West-produced track 'Show Me a Good Time.' Freezing at the right moment, the rapper launched into JD's classic verse off 'Fantastic, Vol. 2' to a mostly silent crowd. While firmly rooted in the mainstream with nearly 500,000 copies sold of his debut, Drake has continually name-checked Slum Village and Dilla as the purest representation of hip-hop in his path to the top of charts.

"Out in L.A. blowing clouds to the killer," he raps on 'Thank Me Later.' "I came up in the underground though/ So I'ma spend another ten thousand for Dilla."

As for the Al Green tribute, Drake remarked that he was doing the cover because "rappers don't get as many girls as singers do."