Eminem, Drake Producer Boi-1da Humbled by Grammy Nominations

Producer Boi-1da has been having an amazing year. His work on two of the year's biggest hip-hops albums -- Drake's 'Thank Me Later' and Eminem's 'Recovery' -- not only garnered him notoriety but snagged him a handful of Grammy nominations which were announced Wednesday (Dec. 1). The BoomBox caught up with the Toronto native, who was beaming at the recognition from the Recording Academy and equally excited for his longtime friend, Drake.

"Me and Drake, we came up together musically and it feels crazy to look at where we came from and where we are right now," he told The BoomBox of receiving nominations in the Best Rap Album category for 'Thank Me Later,' and Best Rap Solo Performance for Drake's lead single 'Over.' "[Drake's] a friend that I grew up with, now he's a superstar; he's nominated for a Grammy off of his debut album. This is stuff we used to talk about years ago and now it's actually manifesting, so it's very exciting, very honoring and humbling." As a new artist, Drizzy took the Grammys by storm this year garnering four nominations in total for his top selling critically acclaimed debut.

With production credits on Eminem's unstoppable 'Recovery' album, which has not only sold more than 3 million copies, but propelled the Detroit rapper to receive 10 Grammy nominations, Boi-1da revealed that working with his musical idol on the track 'Not Afraid' was a surreal experience. "It was unreal that I actually did songs with Eminem. He's like a big influence on my music as well because I listened to a lot of Eminem growing up so it was like a crazy experience doing anything with Eminem and an honor because in my eyes he's definitely the greatest rapper to ever rap."

Both Drake and Em will go up against each other in the Best Rap Solo Performance Categories, as well as the Best Rap Album category. The 53rd annual Grammys Awards air live on CBS on Feb. 13 at 8:00PM EST.